


Human Weakness

by Valkyriav



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Remember when Lee was a compelling character and not just a joke?, Romance, Sakura is a flawed character needing to grow, Sasuke is more than just a two dimensional villain, Slow Burn, friendship build up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-01-29 17:23:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 60,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12635661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valkyriav/pseuds/Valkyriav
Summary: Sakura thought life would be perfect now that she is married to Sasuke, but she soon realizes that the idealized Sasuke she always dreamed of is not real. Lee suddenly enters into her life and fills the holes Sasuke leaves with his long, unexplained disappearances, but confusing feelings start to develop on both sides.





	1. How Things Are

**Author's Note:**

> So I have this posted on FF.net, but seeing how much more AO3 has been thriving, I'm been slowly moving some of my fics over here. :) Hope you enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What has happened since the War that brings us to the present day.

Right after the end of the Great Shinobi War, Sakura was asked out on a date by both Rock Lee and Naruto. Emotions for everyone were high; their close calls with death paired with what taste they got out of the Infinite Tsukuyomi caused many to pursue that they desired with new found confidence. Sakura politely turned down both of them for she had eyes only for one.

Three years after the Great Shinobi War Sakura married the love of her life, Sasuke Uchiha. They had only dated for a few months. In that time Naruto had moved on and found love with Hinata. Lee remained as he was, seemingly his only love being training. Despite being pardoned due to his efforts in the war, Sasuke was still scorned by many; his previous traitor status was not forgotten. After Sakura became an Uchiha she was treated with similar distaste and she tried not to let it get to her.

Kakashi stepped down as Hokage early to let Naruto take his place. After the initial celebrations, Sakura saw less and less of Naruto every day as he was always bogged down in official Hokage work. She saw Lee every once in a while; usually they would pass by and exchange a few polite, cordial words and part.

Sakura's marriage was not how she had dreamed it to be. Sasuke was thankfully no longer as dark as he once was; he would even smile on occasion, yet, he was not the sweet, passionate lover Sakura dreamed of. His words were still blunt and harsh. He was distant and talked sparingly. His romantic gestures seemed almost mechanical. Sakura always thought that with her unconditional love, given the chance, she could open up the solemn Uchiha and bring out his deeply hidden kindness and happiness. Now that this chance had been given she sees that she thought foolishly.

A few weeks into the marriage Sasuke left the village for several weeks without informing her. Sakura was distraught. She thought Sasuke had abandoned not only the village again, but their marriage. She met with Naruto to tell him of Sasuke's disappearance while tears streamed down her face. Naruto was confused. "Sasuke didn't tell you he was leaving?"

When he returned Sakura told herself she would yell at him and tell him how much he hurt her. She would demand answers for why he didn't tell her anything. When Sasuke finally returned one night Sakura instead welcomed him home with a small smile and a trembling voice. This became normal. Sasuke would disappear for long lengths of time without warning and come back as though nothing happened. Sakura finally asked him one day where he was going.

His response was short. "There are still parts of the shinobi world I haven't seen."

Sakura didn't question him further.

Even with these marital problems Sakura's heart still fluttered with every touch and glance Sasuke gave her. She told herself she was happy with what was. She was living the dream she had since childhood: to be Sasuke's wife, yet, Sakura felt an emptiness inside her. Sakura felt neglected by those she felt closest to; Naruto was too busy as Hokage and Sasuke was always traveling. Her life started to feel like the days before Naruto came back from his training with Jiraiya with both of them absent.

To distract herself from these feelings she would push herself hard while working in the hospital or on missions so when she returned home the only thing she would think about is rest rather than their quiet house with the empty spot next to her on their bed. When free from obligations she would visit Ino or her parents though she hated that one of the first questions asked by them was always "How is Sasuke doing?"

She wished she knew.

* * *

When news of Sakura's wedding announcement to the infamous Sasuke Uchiha spread across Konoha both Tenten and Guy individually asked Lee how he was doing. First was Guy when Lee visited him early in the morning to train. Rather than demanding a race to the training grounds Guy kept a steady pace besides Lee in his wheelchair. "Lee, how are you doing today?" Guy was lacking his usual enthusiasm; instead he looked intently at Lee for an answer.

It was a general question but Lee understood what was implied. Lee unfurrowed his thick eyebrows, put on his nice guy grin, and gave Guy a thumbs up. "Wonderful! It seems like it will be a beautiful day to train, Guy-sensei! Thank you for asking!"

Guy chuckled, but his eyes still portrayed concern. "Of course, Lee."

When Lee met up with Tenten he could tell there was something on her mind as they visited Neji's grave to replace the flowers. While they were eating lunch afterwards Lee asked what was on her mind. "Oh, never mind me, Lee. How are you doing though?"

"Full of youth as always, Tenten!"

Unlike Guy, Tenten was pushier. "What about Sakura's wedding? She's marrying that Sasuke. Yuck."

Lee looked away from Tenten's gaze, instead to the the curry he was pushing around on his plate. "Sakura has been pining for Sasuke since we were genin. I am happy that she has finally gotten Sasuke's affection and I wish their marriage the best."

Tenten did not question him further.

Lee was invited to the wedding like the rest of the Konoha 11. Most of their sensei showed up as well along with former Hokages, family, and other people Lee did not recognize. Sakura looked like a flower in full bloom; the way her dress draped reminded him of petals of a magnificent flower. This was the happiest Lee had ever seen her. The way she beamed at Sasuke brought a lump to Lee's throat, but he made sure to continue smiling for Sakura's special day.

During the ceremony he saw a few people with looks of disapproval and disappointment due to a personal dislike of Sasuke, but thankfully no one interrupted Sakura's special day or Lee would have had a word with them. During the after party Lee congratulated the newlyweds personally before departing soon after.

After changing out of his suit Lee headed to the training grounds and trained twice as hard that day.

Lee did not see much of Sakura after her wedding. Whenever he did she was usually too busy to slow down and they exchanged only a few words. Lee saw Sasuke even less. Sakura initially seemed cheerful with a bright smile always on her face. Lee was thankful that Sasuke made her feel that way, yet, sometimes he wondered if he could have ever brought her the same happiness had things been different. As time went on the bright smile faded and her eyes dulled. It was a subtle change that she could disguise well under a smile. Sakura's eyebrows now were usually slightly furrowed, as though distressed, and she had a faraway look in her eyes. Lee wanted to fix this; he wanted to see her vibrant smile again. Lee wondered if Sasuke had anything to do with her unhappiness. The thought of him mistreating her made Lee's blood boil. His next immediate thought was to teach Sasuke a lesson, yet, Lee knew it was not his place to intrude where he could cause more harm than good. After waving to Sakura goodbye he would pause and watch as she hurried away, deeply yearning to reach out to her to help her bloom again.


	2. Dark Haired Shinobi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura sees a familiar face in one of her hospital patients.

Sakura's alarm went off as soon as the first rays of sunlight filtered their way through her shaded window. In her half asleep state she rolled over towards Sasuke's side of the bed to find it cold and empty.

_That's right; Sasuke is still gone._

She took her usual morning shower, made herself breakfast in their kitchen, and headed out towards the hospital in her medical attire. She met the eyes of a few scornful villagers but she just looked away as their gazes drilled at her back. She was promoted by Tsunade as a head medical-nin a few years back due to her exceptional medical expertise, all thanks to the former Hokage herself. Most of her job was to check in on high risk patients or work in emergency care. Her job was becoming even busier since the patient numbers were steadily increasing with recent demand for Konoha shinobi. To Sakura, it was a stressful, but rewarding job to save so many lives.

Sakura spent all morning with her medic team working on a young, dark haired shinobi who came in with grievous battle wounds. They were able to stabilize him after several hours but they were dangerously close to losing him. Her team congratulated her and she thanked them all in return before cleaning herself off and going on break.

It was hard for her to not see Sasuke in that young shinobi's face as she worked on him. It caused her hands to shake so she had to put additional focus on her chakra control in order to heal him properly. What if Sasuke was out there now, alone and bleeding out without anyone to help him? Sakura knew Sasuke was extremely powerful so he could protect himself, but it was easy for things to go wrong out on the battlefield despite extreme caution. He ventured out alone, Sakura assumed, meaning he had no one to keep an eye out while he slept.

 _Maybe I should ask him if he'd like me to come with one time,_ Sakura thought. Yet she was doubtful he would actually want her there with him.

"Dr. Uchiha, we need you immediately!"

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and turned to the young nurse that had appeared in front of her, unnoticed. "Lead the way. What's the situation?"

Sakura and the nurse power walked at a brisk pace through the hospital's halls. Sakura prepared herself by tying up her hair. "Young male. Chuunin-level shinobi. Unconscious. Lacerations across body and heavy blood loss. We're told he might have been poisoned though this hasn't been confirmed. Also showing signs of muscle tissue damage." The nurse lead Sakura into a room with a team already working on him before she nodded and left.

Sakura caught a few glimpses of black hair behind the scrambling nurses. Her stomach sunk. She knew it was incredibly improbable that this would be her husband, but the thought still crossed her mind after her earlier thoughts. When she hastily squeezed through the team of medics her eyes widened as she was met with a very familiar face.

"L-Lee!" she gasped, horrified.

Her long-time fellow shinobi and friend was laid out on the medical table in front of her, blood seeping through hastily wrapped bandages. His flak jacket was wide open; a medic had cut through his jumpsuit to gain access to a large gash across his chest. There were smaller lacerations across his body that the other medics were pumping chakra into. Not even unconsciousness could save Lee from the pain Sakura could see clearly written on his face.

After recovering from the initial shock Sakura went straight to work. "I can take care of the wound on his chest. Make sure he doesn't lose too much blood!"

"Yes, doctor!"

The medic hovering over Lee's chest moved aside for Sakura. The wound was too wide to heal properly with chakra so Sakura picked up an available needle and skillfully sutured the gash together. She tied and snipped the surgical thread and then hastily put aside the needle to begin working on pumping as much chakra as she could into the sutured wound. The medics around her were doing the same or applying pressure to the wounds bleeding the most. When a gash was properly healed a medic would then bandage the still sensitive wound to prevent it from bursting open again.

Sakura noticed Lee was abnormally pale and cold. His pained expression had faded little by little but Sakura knew this was not a good sign; it was a sign of him weakening.

 _Lee, you can pull through this,_ she thought, _I know it. Don't give up on me, dammit!_

"We have the bleeding under control, Dr. Uchiha," one of the medics declared. "The next matter is to find this unconfirmed poison! This is your expertise; please tell us what we can do to help."  
Sakura didn't waste a breath. "Get an IV in this man and hot pads to warm him up. I need a bowl of water and give me plenty of space."

The medic team split. One of them placed a filled bowl beside Sakura. Using her chakra to keep it in place, she picked up a orb of water from the bowl and placed her hands over Lee's chest. The reports were not wrong; as Sakura probed Lee's cells she came across a foreign substance. With pinpoint precision she injected chakra into Lee's cells to coax out whatever toxin was inside him. Little by little she forced the toxin out of all the infected cells she could find. When it came close to the surface of Lee's skin she gave it one last tug to let it seep out of his pores. She then steadily pulled the toxin into the orb of water in her hand until it had turned a saturated purple color.

When Sakura looked up she noticed that the medics had thankfully put hot pads on Lee's sides and an IV was placed in his arm. In her concentrated state she did not notice it happen.

Sakura carefully put the orb back into the bowl and handed it to a medic. "Send this in for analysis right away!"

The medic nodded and rushed off with the bowl.

Sakura sighed in relief and wiped sweat off her brow. She looked at her medic team with a relieved smile. "The patient is now poison-free. I think we're done here. Good job, team. We saved a great shinobi today."

The medics on her team congratulated her similarly. There were proud smiles all around.

Sakura stole a glance at Lee now peacefully resting on the surgical table, although pale and gaunt. It brought back memories of when she and Tsunade helped him recover from the wounds from Gaara's attack when she was still a genin. Lee would get a bit flustered whenever she would visit or examine him during his recovery progress. Sakura gave him a small smile.

_Lee is an even stronger shinobi now than he was before. If he could survive Gaara he can survive these wounds._

Sakura look back to her team and put back on her stoic, professional face. "I think I need to sit down for a bit and recover. That took a lot of chakra out of me. As Rock Lee's primary doctor in this case, put him in a good room and keep me updated. I will check his post-surgery status when I've recovered."

With that she left the surgical room, putting Lee back in the medics' hands. She immediately walked to the break room and collapsed in an available chair.

Sakura let out a large sigh. Removing poison from a body was a very draining process. Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought back to Lee's injuries. _What kind of mission did Lee go on for him to end up like that?_ She would have to ask him when he awoke.


	3. The Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee finally gets a chance to speak to Sakura.

The next morning Sakura deviated from her normal routine and dropped by Yamanaka Flowers. Ino was sadly not there, but nevertheless, Sakura picked a simple daffodil, much like she did for Sasuke and Lee during the chuunin exams. She still saw it as a flower that represented strength and recovery since it survives the harsh cold to get to spring.

When she arrived at the hospital she immediately checked up on Lee's recovery progress. He was still unconscious but color had thankfully returned to his face. According to his file on the wall he had visitors yesterday while she was in other parts of the hopsital. She saw Guy and Tenten's names as expected, but she also noticed Ino's name on there as well. She did not doubt Ino's presence there since there was a large, expensive collection of exotic flowers on the desk besides Lee which could only come from Yamanaka Flowers.

_That's odd. Perhaps Ino was on the mission with him._

Sakura hesitantly placed her simple daffodil next to Ino's flowers. They dwarfed her daffodil to a comical degree. Ino's flowers made Sakura's daffodil look frail and pathetic.

_Thanks for outdoing me again, Ino-pig._

Sakura went to work and first checked Lee's vitals; nothing was out of the ordinary. It appeared she had removed all traces of the poison. She then carefully checked the healed wounds under his bandages. None of them had split open and they looked like they were healing quite nicely, though the one on his chest would definitely leave a noticeable scar. Sakura hoped it would not bother Lee much.

She then gently probed the muscles in his arms and legs. They were inflamed.

 _Lee must have opened several gates for his muscles to get like this,_ Sakura thought.

While the muscles would heal on their own, Sakura decided to speed up the process. To relax and promote their healing, Sakura pumped chakra into his muscles, section by section of his body.

"There you go, Lee," she smiled. "This is insurance just in case the minute you wake up you decide you need to train. Knowing you, you'll just end up injuring yourself further. I don't want to have to drag your ass back in bed lecturing you about the importance of rest."

When Sakura was done she gave him one last glance before leaving. He now had a peaceful look on his face as though he was having a pleasant dream.

Later in the day, Sakura was approached by hospital personnel. He was an older man Sakura recognized from the analysis labs in the basement of the hospital that went by the name Sho.

"Dr. Uchiha, we have the analysis results on the poison found in patient Rock Lee's body."

Sakura perked up, eager. "Wonderful. Please give me the report."

Sho handed her the data-covered papers. "I'll give you a quick summary, but everything you would ever want to know about it is in those papers. This toxin was extracted from a pufferfish commonly found along the shore of the Land of Sound and the Land of Hot Water. Usually it's used by the ninja in those areas. It's a painful paralysis poison, but a large enough dose and with enough time it can kill a person. What you gave us was more than enough to do the job. Rock Lee was very fortunate to have your expertise available, Dr. Uchiha."

Sakura gave a polite smile. "Thank you. I'm happy that I was there for him. He saved my life in the past and it was about time I returned the favor."

"Sure," Sho chuckled. "You two close friends?"

"Not close, but we're definitely old friends. Though it's been awhile since I've said anything more to him than a simple greeting in passing. Looks like that might change soon since I'm his primary doctor in this case."

"Seems so. Wish him a speedy recovery for me, will you? I must get back to the lab," Sho said.

"Of course. As always, I appreciate the work you do. I'll be sure give the report a thorough read."

"Thank you. Have a nice day," Sho waved Sakura goodbye before he strode off.

_Poison from the either the Land of Sound or from the Land of Hot Water. That explains where Lee probably was. Whoever he battled was very intent on not letting him escape alive._

* * *

 Two days after Lee's arrival at the hospital, he awoke. It was gradual; first his fingertips twitched and his eyelids fluttered before he regained full consciousness. Despite the sleep Lee's mind still felt groggy and his body weak.

Lee's mind flashed to the last thing he remembered. Ino and Tenten were carrying him away while shouting at him to stay awake while he was in agony. Then everything went black.

_Are they okay? Where am I?_

He was in a white room with all sorts of charts and papers pinned to the wall. Someone had replaced his clothes with loose clothing. His body felt sore and stiff.

_I am in the hospital._

Lee then noticed the desk beside him which had two vases of flowers on it. One was a magnificent display of a variety of different exotic colors while another was a simple daffodil. While the larger vase was most certainly the most impressive, his eyes were drawn most to the familiar daffodil. It was the signature flower Sakura used to give to him while he was recovering from the chunnin exams. She would come in and replace it every time it wilted without fail until he could leave the hospital. He remembered asking her one day why she always picked the same flower. She said it represented strength and recovery, a symbol of hope for Lee to make a speedy recovery. Lee decided that day that daffodils would join his list of favorite flowers alongside the lotus and cherry blossom.

 _Did Sakura visit me?_ Lee wondered. The thought that she spent time visiting him made his heart beat faster. They had not properly spoke in so long he had thought that what friendship they had must have faded.

As for the other flowers, Lee found a tag on it that had both Ino and Tenten's names on it. 'Get well soon' it simply read.

Lee sighed in relief. If the two of them send him flowers they must have been okay.

Lee suddenly grinned to himself.  _Everything turned out okay. But my body feels stiff as though I have been laying here for a while. This obviously means I need to train to catch up for that lost time or I will never be able to become a jonin like Guy-sensei!_

The overly determined ninja leaped out of bed and immediately stumbled and fell. He let out a groan and clutched his side. One of the wounds had split open and a bit of blood was seeping through the gauze wrapped around his abdomen. The wound was in much better shape than it had been before but it was not completely healed.

_I overestimated my body's strength but this is nothing but a scratch. This will not deter me from my training!_

Lee slowly stood up and then carefully made his way to the door, making sure to watch his balance. When he left his room some hospital staff gave him odd looks but none of them tried to stop him so he continued on. Slowly but surely he made his way outside the back of the hospital, with his hand against the wall for support. When he found a suitable spot he lowered himself to the ground and began his push-ups.

"If I cannot do four-hundred push-ups in this state I will do four-hundred curl-ups instead!"

* * *

 Sakura was eating lunch in the break room when a nurse burst into the room, panicked. "Dr. Uchiha! Your patient Rock Lee is missing from his room! I can't find him anywhere in the hospital!" she exclaimed.

Sakura dropped her lunch and hastily stood up from her table. "Oh, I have a good idea of where he is," she growled.

The nurse blinked in confusion. "Where would that be?"

Sakura must have not heard the nurse as she stormed past her.

* * *

 "Twenty-five... Twenty-six..."

With each curl-up Lee's breath labored further and the time between curl-ups increased. Sweat stuck his hair to his face as he continued to struggle through his training. Despite his struggle he refused to give up.

"If I cannot do four-hundred curl-ups I will jog around the hospital one-hundred times!"

A stern voice abruptly interrupted him. "No, you're not."

When Lee came down from his twenty-seventh curl-up he found himself looking up a familiar pink-haired kunoichi. Her beautiful face was in a scowl. His eyes widened in surprise. "Ah, h-hello Sakura! How are you doing?"

"Not too happy about my patient aggravating his wounds right now."

"S-Sorry, Sakura! Though I must bear through this training so I can one day become a jonin!" Lee had to look away, ashamed, from Sakura's piercing green eyes.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "That can wait. While you're under my care you are not allowed to train until I give you permission."

"Y-Yes, Sakura!"

With that, Sakura's face softened; Lee hoped she was satisfied with his answer. "Alright then, Lee. How about we head back to your room then so I can check how you're doing? I see you opened up one of the wounds on your side. I'll need to take a look at that."

"Of course!"

Lee tried to pick himself off the ground a few times, but with each try he found himself stumbling back on the ground again. He was already weak when he woke; with the bit of training he had done he had sapped his remaining strength. On the third try he suddenly found himself swept off his feet and in Sakura's arms.

"Allow me." Sakura had a subtle look of amusement on her face that she tried to hide behind a cool, professional demeanor.

Lee was taken aback. He never expected to find himself in Sakura's arms like this. He used to fantasize about the other way around when she was unmarried, but now he realized that it was a rude thought to imagine that Sakura could not be the heroine. Not only was Sakura a jonin, she was also one of the second generation Sannin with extraordinary strength and healing abilities. She was a force not to be trifled with.

Sakura had already walked them through the doors before Lee stammered, "T-Thank you, Sakura! I apologize for the inconvenience! I promise to make it up to you in the future!"

"There's no need. This is just a part of my job after all," Sakura shrugged.

When they had returned to Lee's room Sakura carefully placed him back on the bed and wordlessly began to check his wounds. Lee searched Sakura's face with his dark eyes as she worked. Sakura was no longer the cheerful, determined woman he remembered. The Sakura he remembered was always enthusiastic about what she did while here she seemed apathetic. He could not sense the youthful energy she once radiated. Even so, he felt like he caught a glimpse of what she was when she swept him off his feet as she hid her amusement. What made her old self retreat into her depths?

_Ask her how she is doing._

Lee swallowed a lump in his throat. "Sakura... How have you been? I have not properly talked to you in ages besides the hello's on the street."

Sakura glanced up at him briefly before looking back to what she was doing: wrapping his abdomen in new gauze. "Oh, I've been well. Just busy." Yet she looked troubled as usual.

Lee's voice softened. "Are you positive about that, Sakura?"

Sakura's head jerked up and their eyes met. For a second she looked as though she had been exposed and pulled out of her shell but it did not last long; her eyes hardened and she put on a faux smile. "Of course... Why would I not be?"

"You just do not seem like normal cheerful self; that is all." Lee then hesitated. He knew it was impolite to pry, but after watching her suffer for so long he could not stop himself. "In fact, you have not seemed be your regular self for quite some time now. Even with our simple greetings on the street I can see there is something troubling you."

The fake smile Sakura had immediately disappeared from her face. Her eyebrows knitted together and her eyes began to water. "I..." her voice wavered. "It's a private matter. I'm sorry."

Lee mentally punched himself. With his comment he had upset her which was the opposite of what he wanted to do. "You need not apologize. I am the one who is sorry for prying." Lee hesitantly put a supportive hand on her shoulder. He hoped it would not offend her. "Though there is one thing I want you to always remember, Sakura: my promise. I promised to protect you until the day I die. This does not only apply on the battlefield; it also applies to your life and all its troubles. If you ever need me for anything, please tell me. I will happily drop whatever I am doing to be at your side."

Lee was not sure how much time had passed before Sakura uttered a response. "...Thank you, Lee." She hastily wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her doctor's coat. "I need to go now. I'll drop by later to check on you." With that, Sakura hastily left Lee alone in his room.


	4. His Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura returns home to contemplate her conversation with Lee.

Sakura told Lee she would return later that day to check on him. She never did.

As she would reach for the door handle her chest tightened and her hand froze; she could not force herself to go through that door. Going through the door meant confronting the one person who knew of her hidden grief. Confronting Lee meant she would be out on display while his watchful eyes searched for the cracks and weaknesses in her fragile facade. Even if he were to no longer pry, Sakura knew that her every misstep would be another mental note for Lee of the weakness she was desperately hiding.

_Weakness._

The word that always stung. Weakness was what Sakura wanted so desperately to escape. She started out as nothing but a liability to Team 7. Under Tsunade's tutelage she was able to become more than just a helpless girl. She became strong, physically, but was she strong mentally and emotionally?

_No._

By looking at her experience with something as domestic as marriage, Sakura could answer that confidently. Despite being a kunoichi who dealt with death and violence every day, she could not handle the strains of a relationship. Sasuke made her facade crumble away to reveal the weak, little girl inside who was subject to his every whim. Every inconsiderate word and action was a sharp wound that even repeated offenses would not numb. Yet, she still loved him. The roller coaster of emotions made her feel human. The love and pain reminded her that she was more than just a dangerous tool to be used by the shinobi system. In a way Sakura thought this made her happy.

Sakura asked a nurse to check in on Lee for her instead before she went home.

The Uchiha house was on the eastern edge of Konoha in a district owned by richer citizens of Konoha. It was a gift given to Sasuke by Naruto for the Uchiha genocide, though officially it was given by the Konoha people. Their house was still small and only had one bedroom. What it boasted was a open yard in a village that prided itself in wasting as little space as possible by making their buildings compact. It was an large change for Sakura who had grown up in the cramped apartments in the middle of Konoha with her parents. For now the yard was empty with nothing more than grass, but one day she told herself she would create a garden.

The sun had finally set when she entered the house. Sakura first shrugged out of her white coat and untied her hair before heading to the kitchen. She dug out old rice and dumplings and ate in the darkness, with nothing more than the moon as lighting. When she was cleaning the dishes in the sink she scrubbed the dishes absentmindedly as she stared outside the window into the night, distracted by her thoughts.

_'Please be my girlfriend! I vow to protect you with my life!'_

That was first thing Lee had said to her after his introduction when they met during the chunin exams. Sakura rejected him on the spot without a moment's hesitation. It was a foolish promise made by an infatuated thirteen-year-old boy to a girl he had just met. Sakura expected the weird kid with the big eyebrows and bowl cut to not remember all the sappy things he said to her and move onto another girl, yet, in the Forest of Death he came to her aid because of the promise he did not forget. Years later, during the Great Shinobi War, when the two of them fought back to back in the Third Division, Lee reminded her again of his promise. Now, earlier today, Lee once again reiterated his promise to her. Sakura ended up being the one who would forget his promise rather than Lee himself.

Sakura learned that once Lee vowed to do something he would set out and do it, no matter how hard it would be. This ethic could also be plainly seen in his training regiment. If he could not do one task he told himself he would do another until he could accomplish his goal. Only then would he stop. Lee's promise to her would end at his death. Even if Lee no longer had feelings for her, Sakura was certain he would still continue his promise to her. He was one of the most genuine people she knew.

Sakura thought back to the afternoon and to Lee's dark, searching eyes that she could not fool. His large eyebrows were slightly furrowed and his mouth was in a small frown as though he was the troubled one, not her. His voice was gentle and thick with concern, but it was also hesitant, as though the question had been on his mind for a while yet he did not know how to ask.

 _How long have you known, Lee?_ Sakura thought as she combed a hand through her pink hair.  _Do I really seem that unhappy?_

She thought to his supportive hand on her shoulder and the unwavering look in his eyes as he told her he would be there for her if she needed him.

_Do you still feel that way about me after all these years?_

Lee used to wear all of his passionate emotions on his sleeve, but with age he had developed a type of subtly and restraint that did not belong with his expected demeanor. He had not mentioned his feelings for her since after the Fourth Shinobi War, while she was unmarried. It was an odd sight to see the usually overconfident Rock Lee approach her and sheepishly ask her for a date without his usual loud declarations. Even when she turned him down he handled it well, with nothing more than a look of disappointment he attempted to hide behind a smile and then a few polite words of acceptance.

_He can't be. Not since I've been married. He probably gave up hope and moved on by now. His concern is that from a friend._

Sakura sighed. Tomorrow she would have to see him; she could not allow herself to skip her visit again. After all, she had an obligation to as his doctor.

When she finally looked down to her dishes she saw that they were now spotless; she did not know for how long they had been spotless while she still scrubbed away. With her back exposed to the kitchen, she put away the dishes.

Suddenly, the floor creaked and then a sharp point was pressed against the back of Sakura's neck. Her eyes widened. She froze in place.

A familiar voice spoke to her. "You're dead."

"S-Sasuke?" she stammered. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest, threatening to break through her rib cage. Sakura dared not move until she felt the sharp sensation leave her neck. When she heard him stepping back she slowly turned around.

The Uchiha's face was shrouded in a cloak and the kunai he had pressed against her neck was in his hand. With a swift motion he put the kunai back in the case on his leg. "Sakura, If I had meant to kill you your body would be on the floor right now," he said, matter-of-fact. "You are a jonin and now an Uchiha. Many still do not like that name. You must be alert at all times."

"Y-Yes, Sasuke. I'm sorry." Sakura bowed her head in apology.

Sasuke let out a 'hmph' Sakura took as acceptance so she raised her head back up again. Sasuke removed his gear on the kitchen table-his cloak, bags, and hidden weapons. When he was done, Sakura cautiously wrapped her arms around him, burying her face against his chest. "I've missed you. It's nice to have you back again," she said softly. Hopefully Sasuke couldn't feel her still rapid heartbeat. He might be disappointed further with her cowardly reaction.

Sasuke paused before he lightly returned the hug with his remaining arm.

Sakura pulled away, searching his eyes. "Will you be here tomorrow when I get off work?"

His eerie mismatched eyes stared back at her. "Maybe. I will be visiting Naruto for some time," he answered coolly.

"May I come with after work? It would be nice to have a Team 7 gathering again," Sakura asked, hopeful to spend more time with Sasuke while he was still here.

"It's for private matters that do not concern you," he stated.

"Ah." Sakura looked away from him shamefully. Thankfully in the dark Sasuke could not see her reddened face.

Sasuke then turned away and headed to their bedroom. "I'm heading to bed. Are you coming, Sakura?"

Whenever Sasuke said her name with that deep, velvet voice Sakura felt butterflies in her stomach. "Y-Yes, Sasuke."

She followed him to the bedroom. Sasuke removed his shirt with ease. It took him only a short amount of time to learn how to live with just one arm. Sakura noticed some new scars on his lean body but did not question him about them. She removed the rest of her work clothes and changed into proper sleepwear before slipping under the sheets with her husband. Sasuke adjusted himself on his back and Sakura hesitantly snuggled herself up to him. Sasuke closed his eyes without a word while Sakura found herself gazing at his resting face. It was nice to see him again after so long; she felt like she had to treasure every moment she looked at him. Yet while they lay there, half naked under the sheets with their warm bodies pressed against each other, Sakura's mind began to wander. There was something she had to ask Sasuke.

"Sasuke?"

"Hm?" He was still awake.

Sakura bit her lip. "I was just wondering...when would we try to start a family?"

"...Why are you asking this now?"

"I-It's just that the elders of the village have been pushing for our generation to start families early to rebuild the population we lost in the war. Naruto and Hinata just married and have already been talking about kids. It's been over a year for us and yet we haven't talked about it even though you want to rebuild your clan."

"That was my goal many years ago but I've changed since then. Did you not notice?"

Sakura could hear the annoyance in his voice. She shrunk away from him to her side of the bed. "I'm sorry, I guess I didn't." Sasuke's eyes were still closed as though he were not interested to further conversation; he was more interested in sleeping. Even so, Sakura felt it was important to know a little bit more about Sasuke since he has continued to be a mystery to her even as his wife. Growing bold, she asked, "Then what is your goal now, Sasuke?"

There was an uncomfortable silence before Sasuke graced her with a response. "It's a private matter, for now."

Sakura turned away from Sasuke, instead looking across the room to the window. It was pointless to continue pestering him now.

Sakura wanted to be happy that he had returned to her, she truly did, but most times he still seemed to be a stranger to her, a mystery gone unsolved since their childhood. Not even marriage could help her solve the mystery that is Sasuke. For once she wanted him to trust her and speak to her about his personal matters, like she originally imagined their marriage to be like. Not only that, she wanted him to hug her, kiss her, and treasure her as the most important person in his life. She wanted to feel the warmth of his love that she fantasized about for years. She wanted him to stay with her more than a day or two every few weeks; she didn't want to still be waiting for him to come home as she did as a chunin. Perhaps it was selfish to want all these things of him; perhaps the things she desired in men were found only in fairy tales. Perhaps her and Sasuke were the reality of marriage.

_Yet..._

Just from seeing Naruto and Hinata together, from the joy on their faces to the consideration Naruto gives, Sakura can tell that their marriage is wonderful. Hinata especially looked the happiest she has ever been. This made Sakura both envious of and happy for Hinata. Sometimes she wondered what it would have been like if she was in Hinata's place instead. Naruto had loved Sakura in the past, and even at one point she had started to question if she was developing feelings for him herself, but as soon as Sasuke reentered the scene she had thrown away any inkling feelings she could have had for Naruto.

Sakura suddenly felt an unexpected pang of regret and doubt.  _Perhaps I should't have married Sasuke_. This thought sickened her, that she could betray her past self that had pined for Sasuke for so many years and end up regretting it. Perhaps she was giving up on their marriage too soon, she just needed to try harder to make it work. _I made it this far with Sasuke. I can still make this work,_ she thought with determination.


	5. Visitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee has some visitors in the hospital.

The following day Lee was visited by both Tenten and Ino. Lee had heard a warning knock on his door before the two kunoichi welcomed themselves in.

Tenten's eyes lit up as soon as she saw the conscious Lee in bed. "You're awake, Lee! About time!"

"Good to see you awake, Lee," Ino smiled politely.

Lee grinned, sitting up in bed. "Tenten! Ino! It is nice to see that the two of you have recovered!"

"Well, I wouldn't say all the way," Tenten laughed. "I still have some big bruises under my clothes and they still hurt like hell."

Ino sighed melodramatically. "It'll take a while for mine to heal up. The cuts I can handle; the blotchy purple and yellow bruises are too gross for me."

Tenten gave Ino a sideways look of reproach.

"There is no need to be negative," Lee said lightheartedly as the two kunoichi sat down on the available guest chairs next to his bed. "The two of you will still make a full recovery soon enough, I am sure!"

Tenten eyed the wrapped bandages around Lee's body. "What about you, Lee? You gave us a scare during that mission. How long will it take for you to get out of here?"

Lee paused for a second, sifting through his memory. "I do not think I was told yet, unfortunately." Lee then out a dejected sigh of his own. "All I know is that I am not allowed to train until I get permission from Sakura. Until then I am stuck here in bed with my jonin training on hold."

Both women perked up on the mention of Sakura and both opened their mouth to say something, but Ino beat Tenten to it. "Ah, so Sakura's your doctor! That explains the mystery daffodil next to my flowers. It was always a favorite pick of hers." Ino gave a smug smile. "My get-well-soon flowers has hers beat though."

An insincere smile formed on Lee's face. "Ino, while yours is very impressive I do like both equally," he said with restraint.

Tenten was less polite. "I didn't know get-well-flowers were a competition," Tenten said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ino glanced at the looks of disapproval on their faces, taken aback. "Sorry, no need to take my comment so seriously. Sakura and I have been frienemies since childhood. Being competitive over dumb things is what we do. We no longer take it seriously."

Lee's shoulders relaxed at Ino explanation. "Ah, so a friendship based on eternal rivalry similar to what Guy-sensei and Kakashi-sensei have!" he declared. "Now I fully understand! There is nothing more healthy that a good rivalry! I am happy for both you and Sakura!" Despite the sudden enthusiasm Lee suddenly felt the emptiness inside of him where his rivalry with Neji belonged. Lee hated to admit it, but he was a bit jealous of both Ino and Guy for still having their eternal rivals present in their lives.

"Yeah, sure," Ino said, fidgeting in her seat. It was clear she was not used to Lee's strange, passionate outbursts.

Tenten let out her signature sigh that was reserved for Lee and Guy's antics. "Anyway... Speaking of jonin training, you should really be promoted after that mission. We may have failed it but we wouldn't have made it out of there alive if it weren't for you, Lee."

Lee beamed. "You really think so, Tenten? I think the two of you should be promoted as well. You both did amazing."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Lee," Tenten frowned, "But I got my butt kicked pretty hard. I have some weaknesses I need to overcome first."

Ino hesitantly nodded in agreement. "This mission talk reminds me of why I came here. Lee, I want to give you my heartfelt thanks. If you didn't get in between me and that sound-nin I'd be the one laying in that hospital bed instead." She then gave a wry smile. "My parents would also like to thank you. Now they don't have to pay a substitute to run Yamanaka Flowers during my shifts."

Lee gave a thumbs up and a sparkly grin. "Of course, Ino, it is not a problem. Anything for my teammates."

"Just make sure you aren't as stupid about it next time," Tenten scolded, lightly bopping him on the head with her fist.

"Y-Yes, Tenten!" Lee stuttered.

Suddenly the was another knock at the door before it opened. Everyone turned their attention to the door as a pink-haired doctor entered cautiously, a clipboard in hand.

"S-Sakura!" Lee immediately exclaimed, still rubbing his head from Tenten's hit. "Good afternoon!"

"Good afternoon," Sakura responded with a simple nod.

Ino gave Sakura a small wave. "Hey, Sakura, long time no see! I was hoping I would catch you during this visit."

Sakura gave a short, courteous smile. "Oh?"

"I've decided that we need to hang out. I'm thinking this weekend. What do you say?"

"I'm working overtime this weekend," Sakura stated.

"Next weekend it is then!" Ino decided.

"You don't even know if I'm working next weekend too," Sakura retorted.

"Well, if you're working then ask for a day off. You're one of the head medic-nins here anyway, they're not going to deny your request," Ino smirked, leaning back in her chair with her feet resting on the frame of Lee's bed. "So, Sakura. I'll ask. Do you actually have work next weekend?"

Sakura shook her head, defeated.

"Good, then it's settled. My house on Saturday at noon. Anyway, how's Sasuke doing? I don't see him around often enough."

Lee noticed Sakura's eyes immediately darkened but she quickly threw on a smile to camouflage it. "Oh, he's doing well. He came back last night."

"I'm sure he was happy to see you," Ino said with a wink.

Sakura gave Ino an unamused glare. Ino returned an amused smirk. "Sorry to disrupt your dirty thoughts, Ino, but I'll need to excuse all guests while I check on my patient."

Tenten stood up. "Sorry about disrupting you from your job, Sakura. See you around, Lee."

Ino sighed in disappointment. "Alright then, Dr. Uchiha. I'll leave. Remember: next weekend."

"Ah, goodbye," Lee halfheartedly waved at them as they were ushered out of the room by Sakura. He was not too eager to be left alone in the room with Sakura. She came in already looking tense, Ino made it worse, and now he did not know if she was still uncomfortable around him for upsetting her yesterday. Sakura did not return to check up on him as she had promised yesterday so he had assumed it was due to him causing her discomfort.

Lee watched Sakura carefully as she wordlessly shifted through medical papers on a countertop against the wall, skimming through a few papers before shuffling them together and repeating. Sakura seemed to be taking her time. Did she not want to approach him? Lee felt wave of guilt wash over him.

It took a few moments more before Sakura decided to approach Lee. They made eye contact briefly before Sakura immediately shifted her attention to her clipboard. "Time for your check up, Lee. I need you to remove your shirt so I can check your wounds today."

"Of course, Sakura!"

Lee did as he was told, wincing a little from the shifting around it required. He then scooted to the edge of the bed and swung his legs off the side of the bed. Sakura placed the clipboard on his bedside table and began to gently prod the wound locations with her fingers. Lee sat up straight, stiff as a board.

"You don't have to hold your breath, Lee," Sakura said.

Lee did not realize he was holding his breath. He exhaled. "My apologizes, Sakura."

"You don't need to apologize either," Sakura said, her attention still fully on his wounds. "Just keep on breathing. That's important."

"Yes, Sakura!"

Another silence fell between them as Lee silently observed Sakura while she was distracted by his wounds. There were dark circles under her dulled eyes, and her hair was messily put together in a bun. Sakura had not slept well last night, Lee guessed.

Sakura finally spoke again after taking a step back, done with wound inspection. "Well, Lee. It looks like the areas around your wounds are swelling. While a little bit is a good thing, as it is a sign of healing, too much can slow down your recovery and cause additional tissue damage. We'll have to give you anti-inflammatory medicine along with your antibiotics. There might be some bruising around the larger gashes after a few more days but that's to be expected."

"I have experienced such bruising with other serious battle injuries. Do not worry, I know what to expect," Lee grinned. "In particular, my time spend in the hospital after my chunin exam injuries has me quite familiar with the healing process. If I may ask, how does my recovery look?"

Sakura had grabbed her clipboard and went back to staring at it. "You'll make a full recovery. Normally I would allow patients to leave after a few days with explicit instruction for a lot of bed rest and no physical exertion." Sakura briefly glanced up at Lee. "But you're a special case. Since you were poisoned it's important for you to stay a whole week so we can monitor any sudden changes in your health. There is a small possibility that some of your internal organs could be damaged from the poison, only that no signs are showing just yet. So I'd like to do daily checks to make sure that none of your internal organs have been harmed or if so, make repairs to them immediately."

Lee nodded, taking in the new information. "Ah, so Sakura, you were the one who saved my life? My sincerest gratitude! I am truly fortunate to have had your expertise available for me. I am not worried. I have the uttermost confidence that I will be able to leave here at one-hundred percent thanks to you."

The corners of Sakura's mouth faintly curved up in an amused smile. "You've always been the most optimistic patient I've had, Lee."

Lee felt a sense of triumph to see what looked like a small, yet sincere smile on her face. Lee relaxed; the atmosphere in the room no longer seemed as tense. "It is hard to be pessimistic when I have been so lucky in life. There are setbacks, yes, but as long as you push through them with enough confidence anyone can succeed."

"If you think so," Sakura responded passively. She disappeared through the door and came back a moment later with a pill in one hand and a cup of water in the other. "This is the anti-inflammatory drug. Go ahead and take it." She handed him the pill and cup. Lee nodded in thanks and then swallowed the pill with a sip of water. "So, Lee, what happened on that mission? You came here in a very critical condition."

Lee could hear the curiosity in her voice; she had been wondering about it for a while, this was not a casual question. Lee frowned. Naruto and Shikamaru had told his team that the mission they went on was classified. Information relating to it or the intel they had gathered in the Land of Sound was not permitted to be shared. "I am not permitted to speak of it."

Sakura visibly flinched. "Ah, I see," Sakura responded, her voice was thick with melancholy.

Lee did not understand why Sakura was so visibly affected by his response but it did not excuse him from upsetting her. He would not let a repeat of yesterday happen. Lee bowed his head. "My sincerest apologies, Sakura! Please believe me when I say that information on my mission is classified, so I am only permitted to share this with the Hokage or his advisor. I did not mean to offend. If it was not private information I would have otherwise happily shared it with you."

Sakura blinked in surprise, perhaps caught off guard from his apology. She looked more at ease. "It's perfectly alright, Lee. Thank you."

Lee quickly changed the subject. "So, when will I be able to resume my training? Will I be able to train a little while I am here?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "I can't say for sure. Everyone heals at a different pace. For now, no, but I promise to tell you the moment I think you're safe to do so."

Lee gave her a warm, appreciative smile. "Thank you, Sakura. I look forward to that day."

To his surprise, Sakura returned the smile. It did not look forced.

* * *

 

Sakura had checked Lee one more time that day. She was pleased that the tenseness between them had, for the most part, dissolved. Lee had pretended that what had happened between them the day before did not occur, or at the very least he made sure not to bring it up. She appreciated that. Originally she was afraid that after yesterday she would have had to deal with the discomfort towards him for a full week, but now she knew it would be a breeze.

Lee may not be the brightest shinobi that there ever was, but he had good perception when it came to other's feelings when he paid attention.

When Lee refused to share sensitive information with her, Sakura was shocked how much it hurt. Lee was kind enough to share his reasons for not sharing, at least, and that made her feel better. Sasuke did not do her that favor last night.

 _Sasuke... please wait for me to get home,_ Sakura hoped.

Sakura headed straight home after work, hoping to catch Sasuke before he left. She held her breath as she swung open their front door, hoping to see him there. Her heart sank. Both the kitchen and the living room was empty. She let out a hopeless sigh.

_Of course Sasuke didn't wait for me._

"Sakura."

Sakura spun around, her hope immediately restored. Sasuke was standing in the doorway to their bedroom, looking at her with his sharp, mismatched eyes. He was fully geared up, with weapons and armor equipped under the cloak he wore.

"Sasuke! You're still here!" Sakura's chest swelled with joy. She rushed up to him and hugged him. Sasuke returned it with his arm before Sakura pulled away. "How was your visit with Naruto?"

Sasuke's eyes lit up as he recalled their meeting. "He's still the headstrong idiot from when we were genin, but I still respect him," Sasuke responded with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Sakura was happy enough that he responded with that so she did not pry further. "You don't need to leave so soon. Perhaps we can eat dinner together before you go?"

"No, thanks. I really must be going now," Sasuke said, stepping around Sakura. He went over to the kitchen table and picked up a few liquid-filled vials and placed them in his pouch.

Sakura felt jealousy swirl inside of her. Sakura understood that Naruto was responsible for bringing Sasuke back to them and saving him from the darkness that was inside of him, but she felt so far below Naruto on Sasuke's list of importance, even as his wife, and it hurt. " _Please,_  Sasuke," Sakura begged.

Sasuke spared Sakura a glance. "Perhaps next time."

Sakura knew that his words meant nothing. She meant nothing to him.

Sakura lip trembled and she focused her gaze at her feet. The silence grew between them. She then heard Sasuke approach her. Suddenly his cool hand was on her chin. He abruptly pushed her chin up towards him and then kissed her. Before Sakura could process what happened, Sasuke had pulled away. He wore his rare, heart melting smirk on his face. "See you later."

He left a red-faced Sakura there, stunned and confused.


	6. With and Without

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura works towards treating Lee's injuries.

Sakura's emotions were a confused mess after Sasuke had kissed her and left. One second she was sure that Sasuke did not care for her and the next she was not so sure. Perhaps she was so exhausted that she had imagined it. Sasuke seemed to always show affection at the moment Sakura was convinced that he did not love her. She did not know what was the right way to feel, but with work coming up she willed it out of her mind so she could get proper rest that night, rest she would need for the start of the coming week.

On Monday, Guy decided to visit his pupil. The elevator was readily available for his use but that was too easy for Guy. Fellow staff said that Guy had decided to take the stairs even though wheelchair bound. He skillfully flipped himself into a handstand while he held the wheelchair to his buttocks using his good leg. Guy had made it up to the third floor before he stumbled and accidentally released the wheelchair. Guy had crashed down one floor while the wheelchair crashed down all the way to the first floor, injuring two staff members and three other guests. Sakura had to treat all of them for minor injuries, Guy included. She threatened Guy to never do that again. Lee was confused when Sakura had wheeled Guy in to his room, shaking in fear.

On Tuesday, Sakura found Lee missing from his room. She stomped outside, assuming she would find him training. He was not there. On her way back she found him by a water fountain innocently refilling the vase her daffodil was in. He cautiously asked her if he was doing something wrong. She sighed in relief. She was touched he was taking tender care of her flower.

On Wednesday, Guy revisited. He seemed to have forgotten Sakura's threats and so he took the stairs up in the same fashion as before. When she was about to yell at him he showed off the makeshift straps he had incorporated to his wheelchair that kept it securely connected to his body. Sakura grudgingly accepted that. Guy found another way to cause trouble that day. When she had walked into the hallway containing Lee's room, to her horror, she saw Guy cycling away, passionately shouting about training with Lee hanging off the side of the wheelchair, desperately pleading for Guy to turn around or Sakura would be angry with him. Sakura furiously chased after them and pulled a profusely apologetic Lee out of Guy's grasp and then shouted at Guy for disrupting her patient's recovery. She banned Guy from further visits to Lee for the rest of the week. Sakura did not hear an end to Lee's sincerest apologies until the end of that day.

On Thursday, after a thorough examination, Sakura decided that Lee would be allowed to train on hospital grounds. Lee's eyes brightened and he let out an excited 'whoop!' It took only an hour for other medical staff to rush him back into the building after he had found some way to split open one of his wounds that Sakura was positive he could not reopen. Sakura rewrapped his gauze in disbelief. Lee hung his head as she told him that she would have to put limits on his training routine.

On Friday, Sakura had Lee remove his shirt and lay flat on his back while she tested a new medical jutsu on him. He had not reported any noticeable pain so far so she thought she would test out something new. She told him she would be gently prodding his internal organs with waves of chakra to find possible internal damage. The technique called for stroking one's hands across the patient's torso while gently releasing chakra. The lower Sakura got on Lee's torso, the redder his face became. Sakura always found this technique caused discomfort to her male patients; it was jokingly called 'Lover's Caress' for a reason. When she had reached the bottom of his abs, Lee suddenly clutched his chest in pain. Alarmed, Sakura redirected chakra to his heart. She located minor tissue damage she had missed initially. Immediately she pumped healing chakra into his chest. Thanks to Lee's increased heart rate she was able to locate it. Lee was too embarrassed to look her in the eyes for the rest of the day. Sakura found this humorous and laughed for the first time in forever when she retold the story to a coworker.

On Saturday, Sakura worked a fifteen-hour shift. It was what she liked to do on weekends to keep herself out of the house. She started the day off strong but with the more chakra she used up on her patients, the more fatigued she became. When it was ten o'clock at night she fell asleep at her desk station. At midnight she was awoken by Lee nudging her shoulder, asking if she was alright. She drowsily nodded, thanked Lee for waking her up just as her shift ended, and headed home.

On Sunday, Sakura took the afternoon shift. By the time it reaches ten o'clock again she found herself much more alert than the day before. One of her elder patients, who had been getting weaker as the days went on, passed away peacefully that night. Lee was once again wandering the hallways and he found her at her desk station with her face in her hands. With his seemingly infinite source of optimism, Lee found a way to cheer Sakura up by spending the rest of her shift chatting with her.

On Monday, the final day, Sakura removed Lee's stitches since he was ready to be released that day. Lee was eager to go and start up his jonin training again. Sakura felt a surprising pang of sadness when Lee thanked her and left the hospital. With all the sorrow and suffering the hospital held, Lee was like a beacon of warmth and optimism during her work shift.

The rest of the week made her miss his presence there. She enjoyed their small chats they would have every day when she checked up on him. Over the course of that week, the two of them had caught each other up on their lives since they had last properly spoken. Sakura glossed over her issues with Sasuke. It was not a topic she wanted to speak with him on. Now, this week, there was a definite emptiness in the hospital that Lee's absence created.

Friday evening, after work, Sakura paid her parents a visit. As usual, her father, Kizashi, picked her up in a bear hug as soon as she entered the apartment. Meanwhile, her mother, Mebuki, started yelling at Kizashi that he would squeeze his daughter to death if he does not let go. As usual, Sakura ended up listening to the two either squabble or banter back and forth. They asked her about Sasuke. She reluctantly told them that he was still leaving for weeks at a time. Mebuki then criticized Sasuke, as usual, with Kizashi trying to shush her. The few times that her parents had met Sasuke they were not impressed with his short answers and indifference towards them. To be fair, it would take someone as animated as themselves for them to be impressed. The two still grudgingly accepted Sasuke because Sakura loved him. That did not stop Mebuki from criticizing him though, even if Sakura still tried to paint him in a good light.

"The nerve of that man!" Mebuki would huff.

"Now, now, dear," Kizashi would shush, while looking uncomfortable. "Sasuke wouldn't be sacrificing his time away from Sakura if it wasn't something important."

Sakura would wordlessly watch them until Kizashi quieted down Mebuki. Was her father right? Or did Sasuke really not want to see her? Were his small acts of affection done just to placate her? Was that what his departing kiss was?

Sakura left her parent's apartment troubled. The people and buildings she passed were a blur as her feet went on copilot, directing her homeward.

"Good evening, Sakura!"

Sakura snapped back into reality. She stopped, blinked a few times to refocus her eyes ahead of her. Rock Lee was standing in front of her with a wide smile on his face. "Oh, it's you, Lee. Hello."

"How are you doing? I have not seen you around since Monday," Lee said, trying to make conversation.

"I'm doing okay. How are the wounds feeling?" Sakura asked.

"Great! They have all healed up nicely. Once again, thank you."

Sakura gave him a short, polite smile in response while shifting on her feet. "You're welcome. Well, have a nice night, Lee."

Lee's smile turned into a crestfallen frown. "Ah, goodnight, Sakura."

Sakura passed by him without a second thought. They would go back to their simple greetings on the street, she assumed.

Sakura did not get far. "Excuse me, Sakura! Could I have another moment?"

Sakura stopped and turned around to see that Lee paced up to her. "Yes?" Her eyebrows raised in curiosity.

Lee's eyes darted nervously before he forced them to focus on her own. "I do not mean to be too forward, but would you be interested in training with me sometime? I would enjoy a jonin-level sparring partner who could teach me a little about countering genjutsu. I am have heard a lot of praise for your skills in that area. I do not have much to offer you, but perhaps I could teach you my taijutsu techniques. What do you think?" His large, black eyes openly showed his apprehension as he waited for a response.

Sakura understood why Lee was asking her. Guy was not versed in genjutsu so Lee could not ask him for assistance. Tenten's specialization was weapons and taijutsu, plus she was still a chunin. As for other jonin-level shinobi Lee might know, there was Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, and herself. She was sure that Lee was not close to the others, and on top of that, she did not know what type of genjutsu training they had. Sakura was Lee's only option.

Even so, Sakura was unsure if she wanted to commit to something like this. While she enjoyed Lee's company in the hospital, at the moment she was more interested in hiding away at home. "I'm sorry, Lee, but I'm going to have to think about it," she admitted.

Disappointment spread across Lee's face. "Take your time," Lee said with an empathetic smile. "If you do decide to come, I usually train on the southeast training grounds; hardly anyone disturbs me there. Every day I am there starting at two in the afternoon. On Sundays Guy-sensei or Tenten joins me if you are ever interested in a group training session, but I understand if you are not."

The idea of seeing Guy again currently left a sour taste in Sakura's mouth after what he pulled at the hospital. If she saw him right now it would be hard for her to resist the satisfaction she would gain from punching him in the face. If she came, she would have to skip Sundays. "I'll keep that in mind."

Lee looked satisfied enough with her response. "I hope to see you there! Good night, Sakura!" he waved before jogging off. There was a subtle spring in his step.


	7. Saturday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee and Sakura both hang out with their individual BFFs.

The next day, Sakura found herself inside the small Yamanaka compound. She passed by the rows and rows of beautiful flowers that lined the compound's pathways. A gentle breeze passed through, bringing the flowers' sweet scents to Sakura's nose. Sakura found it always ironic that the clan specializing in torture and espionage was so enthralled by flowers. Eventually Sakura made it to the front of Ino's house. Even if she did not wish to socialize, Sakura felt obligated to be there for her friend, especially since she was not given a choice to deny their day together. Sakura knocked. It did not take long before Ino swung open the door.

"Hey, Sakura! Glad you made it," Ino smiled. "Come on in."

Sakura removed her shoes inside and followed Ino to the living room. Ino plopped down on a sofa and motioned Sakura to join her. She sat down next to Ino. On the table Ino had prepared them two cups of tea. Sakura gratefully took one and sipped.

"So, how's Mrs. Uchiha doing?" Ino asked.

Sakura gave a small smile. "I'm doing fine, Ms. Yamanaka. How about you?"

"That's not very specific, Sakura," Ino complained. Ino decided to pry. "How's the hospital job?"

Sakura sighed. "Tiring. The days feel even longer when half way through you're already fatigued from the all the chakra usage."

Ino looked at Sakura with concern. "You know you can cut down on your hours if it's too much for you. Or you can quit all together and wait for mission deployment like the rest of us shinobi. You get a lot more free time that way."

"Free time isn't what I'm looking for now," Sakura answered, wistful. "Plus I'm really saving a lot of lives with what I'm doing now. On missions I'd be taking more lives than I'd be saving."

"I guess you're not wrong about that. What about Lee? Has he left the hospital yet?"

"He left on Monday with a full recovery." Sakura took another sip of tea.

"Great to hear!" A smirk spread across Ino's face. "So what did you think of my flowers? Much more impressive than your own, wouldn't you say, Billboard-brow?" she taunted. "No one can beat a Yamanaka's flower arrangement!"

Sakura took the bait; a scowl formed on her usually somber face. "Oh yeah, Ino-pig? At least mine was an intelligent choice with meaning rather than picking the prettiest flowers. Shows how much you actually use your brain!"

"Getting a bit sensitive over this, aren't you? Why do you care? It's not like you're married to Lee!" Ino teased. Color spread to Sakura's cheeks as she glared at Ino. Since she did not come up with a response quick enough, Ino continued. "What what was that nickname Naruto had for Lee? Ah, it was Bushy-brows! Bushy-brows and Billboard-brow, the perfect couple. Perhaps you should have married Lee instead and I could have taken Sasuke."

Sakura was silently glaring daggers at Ino.

Ino realized she had gone too far so she patted Sakura on the back. "Sorry if I got carried away there, Sakura. I like getting you all fired up since you're so serious all the time now."

"It's fine, Ino-pig," Sakura huffed, looking away.

Ino smiled in relief. "Good to hear, Billboard-brow." Ino sipped her tea thoughtfully. "So, Sakura, does Lee still, y'know, have feelings for you?"

Sakura jolted her head back to Ino, surprised at her question. "Um, I'm not sure. It's been quite a while since Lee has admitted he had feelings for me. I'd assume he would have moved on by now, especially since I'm married."

Ino nodded. "Marriage would greatly discourage any man. Him and Tenten probably grew closer after Neji died, I assume."

"Maybe."

"Oh, another thing about Lee. I used to think Lee was really weird, well, he's still  _really_  weird, but I've gained some major respect for him on that mission we went on. Now I understand why you respect him so much," Ino blabbed. As always, she was such a chatterbox.

Sakura raised a questioning eyebrow. "Lee told me this mission was top secret. Shouldn't you not talk about it?"

"You're my best friend, Sakura. I trust you not to tell. But I promise to leave out all the sensitive mission details for you," Ino winked.

Sakura gave her a skeptical look, but Ino continued with her story.

"Okay, so me, Lee, and Tenten were making our way into enemy territory. Suddenly we were attacked by five enemy-nin. We were getting pummeled. We didn't expect to come across such strong resistance. We were able to take two down. But as soon as they go down, the last three nin take out these weapons dripping in what we presumed to be poison. I was able to mind control one of them for Tenten to kill, but the second my body dropped, another threw poisoned shurikens at my body right when I was transferring back. Suddenly Lee jumps out of no where and takes the hit for me. The last nins were laughing like crazy like they had just won some sort of victory. Lee's struggling to move at this point; I assume some sort of paralysis poison."

"Yes, what I extracted from Lee was in fact paralysis poison," Sakura added.

"Anyway, Tenten and I were trying to keep the two of them at bay without getting hit since they were trying to target Lee. Lee then opens several gates, like the ones from the chunin exams, and blurs past me and Tenten. He takes out one of the nins with a single blow. The last nin was tricky. No matter how fast Lee was, or the hits Tenten and I tried, we all missed him by just a hair. Lee took all the hits since I think he was getting sloppy with the poison kicking in. Lee eventually goes down. Now it's me and Tenten. I start to suspect a genjutsu, so I tell Tenten telepathically to use a dense area attack around him. Boom, I was right. The real nin was simply a foot away from the illusion." The pride leaves Ino's voice, replaced with somber one. "He retreats but we can't afford to go after him, especially with the condition Lee was in. We wrapped up Lee the best we could and I tried a bit of my healing jutsu, but I didn't know a thing about poison removal so we had to abandon the mission."

Sakura's fists clenched. "If I would have been there I could have helped."

"It's okay, Sakura. All of us survived, and that's what counts. See, if you take some time off and make yourself available for missions you can help out your friends as well when they're in danger."

"This is true," Sakura admitted.

"Great, then take some time off. Find something interesting to do in your free time that isn't moping over your dear Sasuke's important missions. At least, that's what I assume he's off doing." Ino gave Sakura a questioning look.

"I can't say," Sakura said quietly.

"Top secret, I understand," Ino nodded.

* * *

 

Today was the day that Lee and Tenten decided to visit Neji's grave together again. After placing their flowers the two of them sat cross-legged next to Neji's grave. Sometimes they did this as a way to spend time with Neji. By including him this way, it felt that he was still there, watching over them. It helped to temporarily fill the hole that Neji's death had created in their hearts.

After a while of peaceful reflection and silence, Tenten spoke up. "Lee, how was having Sakura treat your injuries?"

"It went well. I was lucky to have her as my doctor." His voice was calm and placid, lacking its usual overflowing enthusiasm. Neji's grave was one of the few places that Lee spoke at room volume or below. Lee paused for moment, unsure if to go on. His voice lowered. "But...I am concerned for Sakura. She looks very unhappy. Her mood especially drops every time Sasuke's name is mentioned." Lee's jaw then tightened. "I am afraid that Sasuke is mistreating her in some way."

"Lee... do you still have feelings for Sakura?"

"Of course not!" he responded quickly, fidgeting.

"I hope so, Lee," Tenten responded with an edge to her voice. "Sakura's a married woman now. You would be just setting yourself up for further disappointment. If Neji was here he would probably back me up and call you a fool."

"I know, Tenten. It would be very inappropriate for me to still have feelings for her now. This is concern coming from a friend who had promised to protect her."

"You can probably forget about that promise, Lee. I doubt she remembers it after all these years."

Lee eyed her. "I cannot do that. What kind of person would I be if I make promises that I will not keep?"

Tenten sighed. "I don't know, but I can tell you that the person you are now is very stubborn."

"Thank you, Tenten."

"That wasn't supposed to be a compliment, you dolt."

Lee smile turned upside down. "Then that is not very nice."

Tenten gave a knowing grin. "At least now you only have to deal with me being mean to you. No offense, Neji." She glanced briefly at his headstone in acknowledgement.

Lee followed her gaze to Neji's headstone. He would be perfectly fine with extra jabs at him if he could have Neji back. "Tenten, one more thing. As a warning, I have extended an invitation to Sakura to join me in training. There is always a possibility she would pick tomorrow to come, so she might join us."

Tenten nodded. "Sure. Just as a warning if you end up training alone with her and I'm not there to shut you up. Don't get too interested in her personal business and pry. No woman would appreciate that, even if she is troubled, so keep your mouth shut even if your intentions are good."

"Understood," Lee said with hesitation in his voice.


	8. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee and Sakura's training sessions have begun.

When Sakura came to work on Monday, she had only been working for a few hours before one of her co-workers approached her and said that Tsunade wanted to see her in her office. Sakura wondered what Tsunade wanted with her but she assumed it was important since she wanted to speak in person.

Sakura paced to the top floor of the hopsital, where the head offices were, and knocked on Tsunade's door.

"Come in," came her voice from the other side of the door.

Sakura entered. Tsunade was sitting at her desk with her hands folded in front of her face. As usual, a bottle of sake was by her along with her piles of medical documents. Tsunade's eyes followed Sakura as she took a seat. "Lady Tsunade, you wished to see me?"

"Yes, Sakura," Tsunade answered. Her brown eyes seemed to be studying Sakura carefully; it made Sakura feel uneasy. "I hear you've been working very hard."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, for the injured who need my help."

Tsunade still stared at Sakura intently. "A noble cause. You take on as many shifts as you can and work through weekends unless you are forbidden from doing so due to working too many hours already that week. This is correct?"

"Yes," Sakura said hesitantly.

"And it is also true that you have fallen asleep on the job several times these past few weeks?"

"...I have, but it won't happen again, Lady Tsunade," Sakura promised, ashamed.

"You fell asleep on a job where the injured need you on full alert in order to treat them effectively," Tsunade said, her voice stern. "I will not have my student accidentally endanger this hospital's patients due to a lack of proper sleep. I forbid you from working full work days until further notice. You now work only until noon on weekdays. You are dismissed."

Sakura stood up from her chair and slammed her hands down on Tsunade's desk. "Lady Tsunade, please!" she protested. "I can treat any patient on autopilot if I need to be without any decline in quality; you should know that! The hospital needs me!"

Tsunade's voice rose. "I will hear none of it! You are not the only expert medical-nin here, Sakura." The former Hokage's fierce expression then turned to pity. "Unofficially, I can also tell that something has been troubling you for quite some time. You are lacking in your typical enthusiasm. I will not question what is wrong because it's your private business. Go home, get some rest, and find a solution to your troubles so it will not affect you here at work."

The student and teacher glared at each other in silence, neither budging.

Sakura eventually backed down after what felt like an eternity. "Yes, Lady Tsunade," Sakura submitted.

Tsunade relaxed in her chair. A subtle smile spread on her lips. "Don't worry, Sakura. Since you'll now be available for missions once again you won't be bored for long."

Sakura left Tsunade's office with a scowl.

* * *

 

Sakura did not come to practice Sunday. She did not come Monday either, or Tuesday. At first Lee thought if it was due to her work schedule; Sakura seemed to work as often and as long as she could. When Lee ran into her again on Wednesday, she briefly mentioned that Tsunade had cut down on her hours, so Sakura now only worked until noon. As Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday passed, Lee knew now that her absence was not work related, so she either had other plans or was not interested in training with him. While Lee was disappointed, it was certainly acceptable if she did not wish to join him. Even though Lee loved to have a sparring partner, he still could train effectively by himself.

_Four-hundred sixty-five. Four-hundred sixty-six. Four-hundred sixty-seven._

Lee continued punching the stump in front of him. The steady thump of his fists against the wood was soothing and familiar. He wondered what Sakura was doing now. Was she with Sasuke? If so, was she alright?

 _Of course she is,_  Lee tried to assure himself.  _Sakura is a strong kunoichi. She would not let anyone push her around...except for Sasuke, perhaps._

The next punch he threw splintered the wood. It did not faze him. He continued his steady punches into the stump.

"Lee?"

Lee's punches ceased and his head jolted towards the sound of that familiar voice. Sakura was several feet away, looking at him. She looked a bit uncomfortable, or perhaps, embarrassed. Lee turned to her and a wide smile spread across his face. He wiped the sweat off his brow. "Good afternoon, Sakura!"

She hesitantly smiled back while shifting on her feet. "Hi, Lee. Sorry that I haven't shown up at all this week. After putting some thought into it I decided I needed to find something to do outside of the house. I'll help you with your training."

"R-Really?" Lee's eyes widened, his voice giddy. "That is fantastic! Thank you!"

"So how shall we begin?" Sakura was getting down to business.

Lee rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I was hoping you might know how to start since I know so little about genjutsu. Perhaps we could first start off with a simple sparring match to warm up?"

"Sure thing," Sakura said. She stepped back a few feet before readying herself in a fighting pose, ready to go right then and there.

"One second. I must quickly stretch my legs."

Sakura relaxed from her pose. "Oh?"

Lee nodded. "I may have fully recovered from my chunin exam injuries, but I find that both my left arm and leg get a bit stiff if I do not stretch them out properly before a match."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"You need not be sorry," Lee said nonchalantly. "It is a small price to pay to have my shinobi career back." Lee bent his right knee and stretched out the left leg before alternating. At the same time he stretched out his arm muscles. "I hope I am not wasting your time, Sakura. I just wish to be at my best when we spar for the first time. I hope I will not disappoint you." Lee smiled at her, self-assured.

"Ha, so the taijutsu specialist is worried in a taijutsu-only match." Sakura was amused by this. "You seem to have a lot of confidence in my abilities."

"Of course. I saw you fight in the war and that was before you were a jonin." With his stretches done, Lee readied himself. He placed a hand out in front of him, with the other folded behind his back, his signature fighting pose.

Sakura readied herself as well. "That was with ninjutsu abilities. I may also be talented with taijutsu but what I'm famous for is the chakra I put behind my punches, which is not allowed in a sparring match like this."

"You do not give yourself enough credit, Sakura," Lee said.

"Perhaps."

"Shall we begin?"

Sakura nodded.

"Then here I come!"

Lee immediately closed the distance between them. He threw a few cautious punches to test her. Sakura weaved around them with ease before countering with her own fists. Lee ducked under them and swept a leg at her feet to trip her. She leaped over his leg and then landed a hit on Lee's shoulder causing him to stumble back.

"Lee, I can already tell that you're holding back. Don't take me lightly."

"My apologies. I will not let it happen again."

Lee charged at her again. With increased speed and power, Lee released a string of combos involving kicks and punches. Sakura blocked until she saw an opening and jabbed at Lee's side. Before it could hit him, Lee grabbed her arm and used her momentum to flip her on her back.

"Is that better?" Lee coyly asked.

Sakura rolled away and got back up on her feet. "Much better."

The two shinobi both picked up the pace. Their attacks became more fast and aggressive. Lee noticed that the additional weight on his legs would cause Sakura to stumble when they hit so he increased the number of kicks. Sakura favored her fists, and by keeping her legs firmly on the ground she was more stable and thus she did not have to commit more time to her moves. Lee was good with his legs but when the momentum of his kicks took control of his body, he was at their mercy. Lee was a high risk, high reward fighter; Sakura was the opposite, and it showed in their match. He was on the offensive while she was on the defensive; Sakura would bide her time until there was a safe time to throw in a punch. While Lee was faster than Sakura, his kicks took a few extra milliseconds to pull off, and some would consider his moves flashy. Sakura's punches were short and efficient; they were not pretty, but they were effective.

Sakura ended up taking most of the blows due to being the slower one, even without chakra-enhanced muscle movements. Sakura was able to feint a few attacks to land a solid blow on Lee a moment later, but most of her hits on Lee were grazes. Lee knew if she had put chakra into her attacks, any graze could still be deadly. After the first few feints Lee watched her attacks much more closely. She would usually feint with her left fist using something uncharacteristically flashy to distract him and then bring in her dominant right hand for a quick, sharp punch. Once Lee saw through her feints he no longer took any solid hits.

Lee darted around her, back flipped over her, and threw all of his weight onto a kick directed to her shoulder. To his surprise, Sakura caught it from behind and redirected him to crash on the ground by her side, but then Lee quickly hooked his other leg around her waist and instead flipped her roughly to the ground before recovering back to his feet, uninjured, then resumed his fighting position.

Sakura's wheezed as she rolled to her back. When Lee saw she did not immediately get up, he dropped his fighting pose and rushed up to her, alarmed. "Sakura! Are you okay?"

Sakura took in a deep breath, savoring it, before letting it out slowly. "Wow, you really knocked the breath out of me there," she laughed.

Lee offered her a hand to help her up with his eyes full of guilt. "I am so sorry! I did not mean to hurt you like that!"

Sakura took it, and Lee easily pulled her up on her feet. "It's perfectly alright," Sakura said, dusting herself off. "I told you not to hold back after all."

Despite Sakura easily accepting his apology, Lee still looked guilt-ridden. "This is true," he admitted.

Sakura smiled up at him. "That was a great move you pulled off there. I wasn't expecting that at all. And wow, your moves were lightning fast; I could barely keep up. It's one thing to watch them from a far, but up close you come to understand how quick you really are."

 _Sakura's laugh looked real, and her smile too,_ Lee thought.

Lee grinned back at her. "Thank you! You were also great, Sakura. Even though I was faster you were able to still find a way to land a few hits on me that could have been deadly if you put chakra behind it."

"True, but I could tell by your fighting style that you weren't trying to be cautious. I'm sure you could do even better if you were under pressure."

"Maybe so," Lee responded. "I am just glad that you find my skills impressive!" Lee gave her a thumbs up.

"Of course. I'd hope that a taijutsu-only shinobi would have impressive taijutsu skills. Shall we move onto the genjutsu stuff? I was able to think of some things to go over during our match."

Lee eagerly nodded. "I am ready when you are!"

"Great." Sakura sat down against a tree and motioned for Lee to join her. "We can sit down and rest for a little bit in the shade while I first go over the basics. In order to combat genjutsu, you have to first understand it."

Lee was not worn out at all, but he still politely sat beside her. "This makes sense."

"So, Lee, what do you know about genjutsu?"

Lee tapped his chin, pondering. "Well...Guy-sensei and the rest of my team never encountered many genjutsu opponents, and when we did Guy-sensei was able to break it, though I cannot rely on Guy-sensei any longer. I do know that genjutsu is done similarly to ninjutsu with hand signs and chakra usage, but illusions are created instead of something real. Genjutsu controls some or even all of your senses. If you can realize what exactly the genjutsu is, it can sometimes be easily broken if it is a low level genjutsu, but if you do not know and it is a higher level genjutsu, you can be stuck."

"That's correct. Genjutsu is when a shinobi controls the chakra flow of their opponent's cerebral nervous system, thus affecting their five senses. Some genjutsu you can break out of if you realize what exactly it's doing. Do you know how Guy-sensei would break genjutsu?"

"I believe he mentioned it was through a technique called genjutsu dissipation, though I do not remember how to use the technique. Since Guy-sensei does not know genjutsu he could not train us."

Sakura nodded in understanding. "Only a very few talented individuals can perform genjutsu. It's something that's hard to train against unless you're lucky enough to know a user. You're also right that it's called genjutsu dissipation. What you must do is stop the chakra flow in your body and then apply an even stronger power to disrupt the flow of the genjutsu user's power. Simply put, it's a battle of chakra strength inside your own body. If you cannot break it on your own, an ally can send a surge of chakra into you instead."

"Are the other methods?" Lee asked.

"A few. For those of us who do not have clan eye techniques, the only other method is through intense physical pain. If you can't break a genjutsu on your own and you have no other choice, you should either take a kunai and stab it into one of your limbs or break a finger," Sakura said grimly. "Twisting it is also recommended to cause additional pain. The pain will cause your body's chakra to go wild and it's sometimes strong enough to fix your chakra flow if the first technique fails you, but it can also fail and now you have a pointless, serious injury that will hinder your battle further."

Lee gulped. "I will make sure to only use that in a worst case scenario."

"I hope so." Sakura then paused, thinking, before continuing. "There is maybe one another way deal with genjutsu, but it's not something that can be trained for, at least not easily. I can do this with some genjutsu, and it's more of an innate talent or intuition. This does not break a genjutsu but I can usually sense when one is being used, even if I have no reason to suspect one nor do I see anyone use one. I can feel that something is very off or unnatural; I assume it's because I'm hypersensitive when it comes to my chakra flow. When I feel this way I use the genjutsu dissipation technique just in case."

"That is amazing you have that ability!" Lee said with awe, but then his tone of voice lost some of its optimism. "Unfortunately, I do not think I have this talent."

"That's okay," Sakura assured. "Most people don't. Your best bet is either realizing what exactly the genjutsu is, and then it hopefully breaks for you automatically, or the genjutsu dissipation technique." Sakura looked at Lee with uncertainty. "Though about that technique... I know you have no ninjutsu or genjutsu talent. Yes, you can augment your attacks with chakra but that requires much less chakra control."

"Do not worry! With enough hard work I am sure I can learn. Shape and nature manipulation jutsu are the only techniques I cannot use, but I can still learn other basic chakra manipulation like this." Lee then glanced at Sakura with a disheartened look on his face. "That is, if you are still willing to teach me. If you wish to change your mind that is perfectly okay with me."

"No way," Sakura said firmly. "I'm more stubborn than that. I agreed to help you and so shall it be."

 _It is nice to see more of Sakura's old self slip through the cracks,_  Lee mused.  _Exercise always fixes my mood too._

"Wonderful! Thank you, Sakura!" Lee exclaimed enthusiastically.

"No problem," Sakura replied. "Let's work on genjutsu dissipation. Luckily for you, I've dabbled into some genjutsu since our chunin days so you'll have actual practice against higher level genjutsu so we can perfect your technique. Follow me."

Sakura stood up and Lee followed. She led him past the clearing where all the training equipment was set up, straight to the dense outer woods. Sunlight filtered through small cracks in the leaves, though most of the forest floor was heavily shaded. It was nearly silent except for the occasional breeze rustling the leaves or the chirping of birds. When they could no longer see the training grounds through the trees, Sakura stopped and faced him.

Lee looked at her, puzzled. When Sakura read the expression on his face, she said, "To get away from any distractions."

Lee nodded, content with this answer. "What is your training plan?" he asked, curious.

"You'll see in a moment." Sakura closed the distance between them so they were face-to-face. "Could you please open your flak jacket for me, Lee?"

Lee raised an eyebrow, but he did as instructed, unzipping his flak jacket and exposing his torso to her. His red leaf headband was around his waist as always; he left it there even if it could not be seen with his flak jacket closed. Sakura then placed one of her gloved hands on his chest. Lee felt heat rush to his cheeks. "I-If I may ask, Sakura, what part of the training is this?" he stammered.

Sakura looked up at him with her beautiful jade-green eyes and gave him a reassuring smile. "No need to be nervous. See this point on your chest? This is where the center of your chakra is. The chakra pathway system is most dense right here, close to your heart. If I am to instruct you correctly, I need to be able to feel how you're manipulating your inner chakra."

"Will my heartbeat be a distraction?" Lee hoped his heart was not beating noticeably fast.

"No, I can easily differentiate. I allow some of my own chakra to mingle with your own in your chakra pathway system and I follow its flow. It's as simple as that." Sakura pressed her hand against his chest for fullest contact. "Now, remember the genjutsu dissipation technique? I want you to try it without any genjutsu. First I want you to stop your chakra flow."

"Alright!" Lee hoped he could focus while feeling self-conscious about his former crush touching him like this. While she had often touched him in the hospital to check on his wounds, that was different. There she was formally his doctor, Dr. Uchiha, while now she was here as informal, everyday Sakura.

Lee closed his eyes and focused on his center. All he had to do was stop his chakra flow. That sounded easy enough. He was able to use both the water and surface walking technique. He could direct chakra into his limbs to augment his attacks. He could even open six of the eight gates, a forbidden technique. He could do this. Lee's breathing became slow and steady.

_Concentrate._

First, there was nothing but the touch of Sakura's hand, the light breeze through the trees, and the darkness. Then he could feel the blood pumping through his veins. After a moment he felt the faint movement of what he recognized to be chakra. Lee struggled to focus in on it. With time, the outside world faded away and there was nothing more than him and the flow of his chakra.

_Time to stop it._

Lee threw all of his concentration into stopping his chakra flow, though his chakra system felt like a rushing river that he somehow had to fight against.

"I can feel it slowing a little," Sakura's voice said to him from the darkness. "Keep it up."

Confidence rose in Lee as he sharpened his focus. This time though, slowing his chakra flow further proved to be difficult. With every minute, his mind grew dull and tired with the struggle against his own chakra.

After what felt like an eternity of fighting against his chakra flow, Sakura's voice came from the darkness once more. "I can't feel it slowing down any further and I can sense your exhaustion. Let's stop here."

Lee opened his eyes and met Sakura's. With a quick glance, he noticed that the sun was lower than it was before; no longer was it over the treetops, but it was lowering in front of him. How long had he been doing this for? Lee returned his attention to Sakura. "I can keep going," he protested.

Sakura removed her hand from his chest. "I won't have you faint from exhaustion," she stated. She had made up her mind and was not going to let him change it.

"If that is what you really think," Lee said, defeated. He zipped his flak jacket back up.

"Don't worry, there is always next session," Sakura reassured him.

"That there is!" Enthusiasm returned to Lee's voice as quickly as it had left. "Are there any pointers you have for me for next time?"

"Yes, there is. I noticed that you were depleting your chakra when you were trying to stop the flow. I assume you were trying to push chakra against its natural flow using more chakra. That's probably not the way you want to look at it; you shouldn't be losing chakra. What you really need to do is actually halt your chakra flow through willpower. You must control, not force."

Lee chuckled sheepishly. "Well, I am pretty good at force, though control is another matter."

"Well, like you said, you've been able to master other types of chakra control. You'll get this one eventually," Sakura smiled.

Lee smiled back. "Thank you for having confidence in me, Sakura."

The pink-haired kunoichi nodded. "It's getting late. Shall we start heading back into town then?"

"Ah, you are welcome to head out without me. I plan to stay here and do some additional training." Lee gave her a grin and thumbs up.

Sakura looked him up and down, unamused. "I can see your legs trembling from chakra exhaustion. As your doctor I cannot permit this."

"I thought I was only your patient in the hospital. I did not know this extended to the training field," Lee jested.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but they had a glint of amusement in them. "You will always be my patient, Lee, especially since you're my most regularly occurring one. I'm preventing another visit."

"You have always been my favorite doctor so I see no issues with another visit."

Sakura blinked in surprise at Lee's compliment and a faint red hue spread to her cheeks, but she quickly recovered, placing her hands on her hips with a charming smirk. "Is that so? Well, as a doctor, I don't want to see my patients back. I'll remember not to be nice to you next time to discourage you. Now c'mon, let's head back."

Sakura took initiative and took a few steps towards town before stopping and turning her head towards Lee expectantly. Lee knew he did not have a choice in the matter so he joined her at her side. Sakura was a compassionate woman, and she would do anything in her power to prevent new injuries in her patients. Lee admired that strong-willed trait of hers.

They entered into town together, side by side. Lee stole glances at Sakura as they walked.

_Sakura seems happier today, but I can still see the lines and circles around her eyes. Should I ask her how she is doing?_

"So, Sakura..." Lee began. Sakura turned her head towards him, waiting for him to finish, but he then thought back to what Tenten told him.

_Tenten did tell me not to pry. Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut on that matter._

"When will you show up to training again?" Lee finished.

"You said you train every day at two, right? Expect me every day, except for Sunday for Guy-sensei's safety," Sakura said lightheartedly. "Anyway, this is where I part ways. See you Monday, Lee."

Lee could not hold back his eager grin. "Wonderful. See you later, Sakura!"

The two of them then split off from each other, both of them heading home from an afternoon of their first training session together.


	9. Optimism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brick wall is hit with Lee's genjutsu training.

Every day, except Sundays, Sakura showed up to train with Lee. Right after she got off work she would quickly change at her home and then head straight to the training grounds after lunch. They would greet each other and then begin. First they would spar where Lee would give Sakura taijutsu pointers to improve on her weaker areas. Afterwards they went to their usual private spot in the forest to train Lee's chakra control. This became a part of Sakura's schedule, and it was something she looked forward to since she no longer had long work hours to distract her from troubled thoughts. This was her new distraction to keep her from home, so thus she stayed for as long as she could, though she was not afraid to cut their training short if one of them was suffering from fatigue.

Although Lee worked very hard, Sakura noted that they seemed to have hit a brick wall with Lee's chakra control training. While he had eventually corrected his mistake of using up chakra to force its flow to stop, progress seemed to stop there. For several weeks they tried the same thing; to get Lee to slow his chakra through willpower rather than force. They would sit in the forest for hours with Sakura's hand on his chest, with her unable to sense any change in his chakra current. Despite Lee's optimistic outlook on their training, Sakura's confidence began to slip.

"Lee, let's stop here for today," Sakura sighed, removing her hand from Lee's chest.

Lee opened his eyes. His eyebrows knitted together in concern. "Is something wrong, Sakura? We are stopping earlier than usual."

"Nothing's wrong," Sakura quickly reassured. She then paused and grimaced. "Okay, maybe there is something. About your training..."

"What about it?" Lee asked innocently.

"...I'm just concerned that we haven't had any progress these past few weeks. We've reached a stand still. Are you worried that this might be something you might be unable to do?"

Lee's jaw clenched. "While it is possible that I may not be able to control my chakra like this, it is too soon for me to give up. If I have learned anything from my ninja career, it is that I must always be persistent in order to see results."

Sakura fidgeted. "Sorry, I probably brought up a sensitive subject in a way I shouldn't have."

"It is no problem!" Lee insisted. "It is a valid concern. Although, does this mean you wish to stop training with me? If so, that is perfectly okay."

Sakura could tell he was trying to hide the dismay behind his voice. "No, of course not! I want to help you." Lee's face immediately lit back up. "I just brought this up because sometimes it's hard to believe how optimistic you can be about this, and even everything else in life. I wanted to make sure that the optimism wasn't a facade."

 _What am I saying? I'm the only one who wears a facade,_ Sakura thought,  _I shouldn't be projecting myself onto others._

Lee looked at Sakura curiously as she continued. "How do you keep so positive over everything even when things look bleak?"

"Through a number of ways," Lee said, his voice soft. "I look towards inspiration. Guy-sensei used to be the only person who believed in me and my potential. He was just like me as a genin. Not only did his belief in me inspire, his existence as proof of an unskilled ninja becoming a splendid one showed me that I could be great too. The most important thing is that he helped me believe in myself. When I look back and see how much I have accomplished through sheer determination, today's troubles seem small in comparison and I know I can power through them. I have only gotten this far because I have pushed far past my limits and defied people's expectations of me. So I must do the same for this genjutsu training, and I feel I have not yet reached my limit."

"I see," Sakura said quietly, looked down at her hands in her lap. She admired that Lee had such a positive outlook, and she wished the same for herself. Now all she did was mope over Sasuke or avoid moping through distractions. Is this what the successor of the legendary Tsunade had become? A moping wife always waiting for her dear husband's return?

There was a pause before Lee hesitantly spoke. "I assume you ask for a reason. Do you have trouble keeping optimistic, Sakura?" Lee studied her, his voice laced with concern.

Sakura was caught off guard having her question turned around on her like that. "U-Um..." her face flushed red in embarrassment as she tried to think of something appropriate to respond with.

"My apologies. It was inappropriate for me to ask, but I was wondering in case you needed advice," Lee said.

"Oh no, it's okay. I... sometimes have trouble keeping a positive attitude like you or even Naruto, though so does the average person. You two aren't average people. I'm not sure how you do it. Maybe if I had that attitude I could be Hokage like Naruto, or I would be able to completely dwarf my weaknesses with my incredible strengths like you," Sakura sighed.

"Sakura, you are an incredible woman already! You are a sage, and an amazing medic-nin. You could be a Hokage if you wanted to, and you already have tremendous strengths. I am not even sure what weaknesses you may have. All you must do is believe in yourself and you could far surpass both Naruto and I!" he insisted.

Sakura chuckled at Lee's pure genuineness at a statement she did not believe herself. "That's easier said than done."

"Then let me be the first person to believe in you if you do not believe in yourself yet, much like Guy-sensei did for me," he said with a firm voice, yet tender expression.

Sakura blushed. "I'm... not sure how to respond to that, but thank you."

"You need not respond. I am simply stating what I intend to do," he grinned.

Sakura returned the smile.  _It's nice to have Lee around. His optimism is infectious at times. God knows I need it._

The two of them held eye contact for a few moments more before both looked away from each other when the moment grew uncomfortable. Lee suddenly examined the bandages wrapped around his arms while Sakura picked at the grass beside her, trying to think of what to say to break the silence. Even though breaking eye contact elevated some of her self-consciousness, it only made her focus more on the fact that their knees were still touching as they sat cross-legged across from each other.

Lee spoke first after clearing his throat. "So Sakura... would you still like to continue training today?"

When she looked back up from the grass he was already looking at her with a polite smile, waiting for a response. "Yeah, I'd like that." She reached out and put her hand back on Lee's chest.

* * *

 

After a few more hours Sakura ended their session as their usual time and then they said their goodbyes and split off. This session ended up different though, Sakura thought she felt Lee's chakra current actually slow, but it was by such a minuscule amount she was sure she imagined it. She decided against telling Lee about it just in case. If she felt it next time she would be sure she was not imaging it and then she would tell him.

When she arrived back home she made herself dinner, ate, and cleaned the dishes as usual. She hummed a familiar tune as she showered off the sweat and grime of the day. While it had turned dark outside, Sakura did not feel ready to enter the bedroom, as it brought back unhappy thoughts she wanted to ignore for now. Instead she pulled out one of her colleague's medical research papers and sat on the sofa, curious as to the results of his scientific conclusions. Perhaps the data and information within would help her one day with a future patient of her own.

As she flipped through the pages with care, the hair on the back of her neck suddenly rose. She knew she was not alone. Quickly she dug out a kunai from crack of the sofa cushions, rolled away, and held it ready to face the intruder.

"Good to see that you're watching your back now," Sasuke said. He stood several feet away from her holding nothing but his side. It was wrapped in gauze but blood still seeped through.

Sakura lowered her guard. "Sasuke, you're bleeding!" She put down the kunai and ran to his side. Sasuke lifted his hand to allow her to access his wound. She immediately began to pump healing chakra into him to seal it. "What happened?" She looked up desperately at his face for answers, hoping he would be gracious enough to answer her.

"I was attacked," Sasuke responded.

"By who?"

Sasuke did not respond.

Sakura's mouth tightened. _He plans on closing me out like he always does..._ Sakura said no more about it as feelings of dejection swirled inside of her.

With her expert healing abilities, Sakura was able to close the wound in only a few minutes. Immediately when she finished Sasuke moved away from her so he could remove his usual gear and place it on the table. "Thanks," he simply said with his back to her, as he sorted through the gear and tools he brought with him.

"Of course, Sasuke," Sakura beamed, her spirits suddenly lifted. She hovered behind Sasuke's back, hands clasped together anxiously, unsure of what to do as she waited for Sasuke to finish. She partially hoped for an unexpected kiss and heart melting smile like last time he left, but that never came. "Have... have you eaten anything? Would you like me to make you something?" she implored.

"I have not. You may make me something if you wish."

Sakura felt excitement rise up in her. "I-I'll make something right away then!" She rushed over to the kitchen, and dug through the cabinets. At least the one thing she was sure she knew about Sasuke was that his favorite food was rice balls with bonito filling. It took her little time to prepare the food; she put the rice balls together as fast as she could as to not disappoint Sasuke. Sasuke in the meantime disappeared into the bedroom and came back out wearing casual clothes. He sat down at the kitchen table and waited patiently. Sakura immediately put a plate of rice balls in front of him along with some tea she hastily brewed up.

"Thank you, Sakura." A subtle smile spread across Sasuke's lips.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. "You're welcome, Sasuke."

Sasuke dug in, eating as though he was starved. Sakura watched him for a while before realizing how strange it was for her to stand and stare at him eating. She then grabbed a cup of tea and sat in the chair across from him. She counted the new freshly healed wounds on his arm. Five new scars. Sasuke's hair was getting a bit longer than usual, and might need a cut. There were circles underneath his mismatched eyes, from either lack of sleep or stress. Despite gracing her with a smile, his posture was still tense.

"How are you doing?" Sakura broke the silence. "Is everything okay?"

Sasuke glanced up at her. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, well," she began, flustered. "You look a bit tense. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Sasuke immediately relaxed his posture. "Is this better?"

Sakura nodded, though she felt differently. Sasuke purposely fixing his posture did not change whatever may be troubling him on the inside. "Is nothing bothering you? If I can do anything to help,  _please_  tell me," she almost begged.

Sasuke took a moment to sip his tea. "There is nothing you can do for me so you have no need to be concerned."

"But it's important that I at least try, or otherwise I'd be a failure of a wife! Please don't shut me out..." she insisted, her voice meek.

Sakura bit her lip as she waited for Sasuke's response. Sasuke eyed her, his eyes cold and unreadable. Sakura could tell he was thinking, though his facial expression revealed little about it. After a long pause, Sasuke finally spoke. "Sakura, you've known me since we were genin; this is who I am. There are many thoughts and feelings that I do not share even with Naruto because I am a private person. It is foolish to think I would change who I fundamentally am after marriage."

Sakura bit back tears as she felt a pang in her chest.  _Sasuke's right... I'm foolish. It's selfish of me to want Sasuke to change who he is for me._

"Are you unhappy with our marriage?" Sasuke questioned.

"No, of course not!" Sakura answered quickly, but her voice then turned quiet. "This is what I've always wanted after all..."

Sasuke studied her face but said no more on the subject. "Naruto asked me to bring you with me the next time I see him. He's upset you haven't visited him more often. He said we could eat dinner at his home with Hinata. I told him it was unnecessary, but he's refused to legally permit me to leave the village again unless we accept," he huffed, indignant.

Sakura blinked in surprise. "S-Sure! When?"

"Tomorrow evening."

"Okay," Sakura nodded.

 _I'll end up missing practice with Lee, but I'm sure he won't mind,_  Sakura thought.  _It's a special occasion after all. Sasuke and I haven't gone out and done something social in so long... And it will be nice to see Naruto again. Maybe this will be good for us. I should be more optimistic like Lee..._


	10. Envy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura and Sasuke have dinner at Naruto's.

The next day came and two o'clock neared by. Lee was at the training grounds stretching his limbs out by their usual meeting spot. His eagerness grew as the minutes went by. Sakura would appear soon. Lee could not deny that training with Sakura had become his favorite part of the day. Her talent in taijutsu made sparring a fun challenge; her skill in genjutsu made her a perfect trainer. Not only that, she was a pleasure to be around. While she was not quite the spunky, passionate woman Lee remembered from before her marriage, with every passing day he could catch small glimpses of her old self when her guard was dropped and her troubles forgotten.

As Lee told himself, he wanted to help Sakura blossom again to the youthful woman she was before while adhering to Tenten's womanly advice not to pry into her problems. These training sessions of theirs seemed to help her a bit, Lee noticed, and he was thankful for that.

Two o'clock passed by with no sign of Sakura.

 _She must be late,_  Lee thought to himself.

Lee then noticed a silhouette heading in his direction. His hopes raised. He shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun to get a better look.

 _That is not Sakura._ Lee sighed, his hopes crushed.  _Perhaps she cannot make today. That is fine. I will train as I did before._

* * *

 "Come, Sakura. Let's go," Sasuke said. He was standing by their front door expectantly eyeing his wife. He was dressed in finer clothes than usual; all in black.

"Y-Yes, Sasuke," Sakura responded. She rushed to his side wearing a bright summer dress.

The two of them headed out of their house, side by side. Sakura hesitantly held onto Sasuke's elbow. He seemed to tolerate it. The walk to Naruto's was filled with silence, with the occasional glare of a villager who had not forgiven Sasuke of his past treachery or Sakura for tainting herself with her marriage to him. Upon their arrival Sakura noticed the large number of guard-nin that surrounded the area. Some were out in plain sight, others hidden in trees, around corners, or on buildings, and those were only the ones she could sense. None disturbed them as Sasuke knocked on the front door.

Almost immediately it was swung open to reveal their old teammate. "Sasuke! Sakura! Good to see you!" Naruto grinned.

"Naruto," Sasuke smirked.

"Nice to see you too, Naruto," Sakura greeted.

Naruto turned his attention to her. "I see Sasuke enough, but what about you, Sakura? You never come visit me. What did I do to deserve this neglect?" he pouted.

"Sorry Naruto, I'm just busy is all and you're always busy with Hokage work," Sakura replied, avoiding his gaze.

Sakura could feel Naruto's eyes on her. "My Hokage work hasn't stopped Sasuke yet. But I'm surprised; you're not going to say something mean? What happened to the real Sakura?" he jested.

"She's still in front of you," Sakura responded, putting on a lighthearted smile.

"If you say so," Naruto said half-heartedly. His eyes glanced over at Sasuke suspiciously before returning to Sakura. "Well anyway, come in you two! Hinata's just finished making dinner. Her cooking is amazing. I no longer have to live solely on instant ramen like the old days." Naruto let the two of them in and they followed him to their dining room.

"With your title you could hire cooks if you wanted," Sasuke stated.

"Yeah, but Hinata really enjoys cooking and only she can get my favorite foods just right." Naruto paused before admitting, "Though I did hire cooks the one time she was bedridden from sickness, otherwise all she would get would be instant ramen."

"Poor Hinata." Sakura shook her head.

Naruto led them into a room that a delicious aroma wafted out of. Inside Hinata was setting dishes down on a nicely polished wooden table with four seats ready for the two couples.

Hinata looked up from the table and gave her signature timid smile. "Nice to see you two have come."

Naruto walked over to his wife and pecked her on the cheek making her blush.

Sakura put on a polite smile, fighting down a twinge of envy at the casual display of affection. The Uchihas sat themselves down at the table, Naruto soon joining them. Hinata disappeared into the kitchen and returned with steaming food. Naruto rubbed his hands together in excitement as Hinata set down the food dishes. Grilled fish, fried rice, and steamed vegetables; all of it looked and smelled delicious.

"Please help yourselves," Hinata said as she took a seat next to Naruto.

"Thanks, Hinata," Sakura smiled.

Naruto immediately grabbed his chopsticks and helped himself to sizable portions of each dish. After Naruto had laid claims to his portion everyone else took portions for themselves.

"Hinata, your cooking is the best!" Naruto sighed with delight after swallowing a sizable chunk of fish that Sakura was surprised he did not choke on.

Hinata beamed. "Thank you."

Naruto grinned warmly at Hinata, and she returned an equally warm smile. Naruto then playfully nudged Hinata with his shoulder, causing her to giggle. The mutual affection in their gazes was hard to miss and Sakura felt envy rise up in her again.

 _Why can't my marriage be like that?_  Sakura caught herself thinking. Guilt soon replaced envy.  _Stop being pathetic and petty getting upset at something as stupid as this,_  she scolded herself. _I need to be happy for Naruto, not turning this around to make it about my unhappiness._ She stole a glance at Sasuke, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.  _Even so, I can't expect Sasuke to act like Naruto either. The two are polar opposites, like night and day._ Sakura then realized how fitting this comparison was. Naruto was warm and bright while Sasuke was cold and secretive, and Sakura sadly realized that she could not expect the moon to be as bright and warm as the sun. It was as Sasuke told her yesterday: it was foolish for her to think that Sasuke would change who he fundamentally was with marriage. It was hope reminiscent of a young, naive schoolgirl, not unlike her genin self.  _I am no longer a foolish genin,_  Sakura stubbornly thought. _Lee's right. I'm a strong woman. I'm both a sage and a jounin. I'm stronger than something as simple as this. So what if Sasuke isn't affectionate? Marriages aren't perfect. I should be happy with what I have and accept the flaws that are there._

Naruto broke her train of thought with his loud voice. "So Sasuke! What's with the full black getup? Did you mistaken your dinner clothes with your funeral clothes?" he joked.

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, but his mouth betrayed him by twitching into an amused smile. "When have you last looked into a mirror, Naruto? I'm not sure how you became Hokage wearing orange for so long. I'd expect an enemy-nin to off you before I returned to the village."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. "Just shows you what a great shinobi I am!"

"Hmph, more like a lucky one," Sasuke retorted, though there was fondness in his voice.

Watching the two of them bicker reminded Sakura of their genin days, though this had less rivalry to it. It was good to see that after all they went through their bond still remained strong. Sakura once again fought down another inkling of envy, wishing her bond to both her teammates was as strong because sometimes she felt like an outsider to their team.

Before Sasuke and Naruto could get carried away, Hinata spoke up. "So how have you two been?" she politely asked, referring to Sakura and Sasuke, as she poured herself a cup of tea.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, waiting to see if he would respond first, but since he was chewing on a piece of food she thought it would be okay if she went first instead. "I'm been fine! Just very busy at the hospital. I don't get much rest," Sakura said halfheartedly. "Though Tsunade recently gave me shorter hours since I've fallen asleep on the job several times..."

"Oh my," Hinata gasped.

"What have you been up to with that free time?" Naruto asked with a mouthful of food.

"Well... I've been training with Lee, actually."

"No wonder you still look tired," Naruto jested. Sakura held her tongue. "Bushybrows' training regiment is crazy. I never plan on training with him again." He shuttered.

 _Good thing I'm training Lee in genjutsu then,_  Sakura thought.

"What about you, Sasuke?" Hinata asked.

"I've been busy traveling," Sasuke responded. "Is very time consuming but rewarding experience, and I've learned things that will benefit Konoha."

Hinata looked expectantly at Naruto, but the Hokage chose not to add in a comment, instead he quietly chewed his food. She politely smiled. "I see. We're all thankful for what anything you can do for the village."

"What about you guys?" Sakura asked.

Hinata blushed. "W-Well, I may no longer be heiress to the Hyuga Clan, but I've been petitioning my sister, Hanabi, to remove the Hyuga traditional juinjutsu seal from use to honor Neji when she comes into power. I expect a lot of push back from the elders but I think it's the right thing to do."

Sakura gaped. "Wow, that's great! I really hope you succeed."

Hinata smiled. "Me too. Please keep it a secret for now. We don't want the elders to find out about it before she comes to power otherwise I'm sure they'll find an illegitimate reason to remove her heiress position before she can claim it."

Sakura nodded. "Can do. If I can help in anyway, please ask."

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," Hinata said shyly, fiddling her hands together like she used to do all the time in her youth.

Sakura looked to Naruto expecting his response, but he was staring into his food with a tightly clenched jaw.  _What's wrong with Naruto?_  Sakura wondered.

"Naruto?" Sakura inquired.

Naruto suddenly blinked and his eyes darted to Sakura. "Huh?"

"You were going to tell us how you've been?" Sakura reminded.

"Ah, yes!" Naruto agreed, nodding. "Hokage work involves a lot more paperwork and less action than I wanted. Now I know why Granny Tsunade drank all the time. She must have been so bored." Naruto laughed, but it was strained.

"She just did that normally and still does," Sakura sighed. Naruto looked a bit tense. One of Hinata's hands drifted to Naruto's under the table. "Something wrong, Naruto?"

"Hm? Nothing at all!" Naruto blurted.

"If you say so," Sakura responded, unconvinced.

The rest of dinner went uneventful with a tension in the air that Sakura did not understand. Once their plates were empty Naruto spoke up. "Thanks for dinner, Hinata. Will you two excuse me and Sasuke?"

"Go right ahead," Hinata said.

Sakura looked back and forth between the two men, wondering what went on between them during their uneventful dinner.

"Great!" Naruto stood up from the table and Sasuke followed suit. "It was nice seeing you, Sakura!" With that, the two of them disappeared through the window into the night.

"Does Naruto often leave suddenly like that?" Sakura sighed.

"Sometimes, yes," Hinata responded. "He's Hokage after all. Urgent business can occur at any time of the night."

"I guess you're right about that," Sakura admitted. Perhaps her suspicions on something strange happening were unfounded if this was normal.

Sakura insisted to help Hinata clean the dishes so the two of them quietly scrubbed the plates in the kitchen sink. Sakura had never really spoken to Hinata in more than a few formal conversations here and there over the years she's known her. She had gotten to know Hinata a bit better since her relationship with Naruto began but she never felt like they had truly broken the ice.

Sakura's thoughts wandered back to Naruto and Sasuke. Their effectiveness at wordless communication was ridiculous. The two of them had a connection that Sakura had never had with anyone before, not even a romantic partner.

"Hinata...?" Sakura spoke softly.

"Yes, Sakura?" Hinata looked at Sakura, her soft eyes attentive.

"Do you ever feel like you're in second place to Sasuke in Naruto's heart?"

Hinata thought for a moment before speaking, keeping her expression guarded. "Sometimes," she admitted. "But I understand why and I accept it."

Sakura waited expectantly for Hinata to continue.

"There are two categories of people in both of their hearts: one another and everybody else. The bond they share is just that special. Even so, I know I'm not in competition with Sasuke because we're in different categories. Naruto has a big heart, big enough to fit all of us in Konoha and even more, so I don't often feel like I'm merely receiving a ration of Naruto's love. ...T-Though sometimes I feel selfish and I wish I could have my own category like Sasuke, but I know they have a mutual understanding of similar experiences that I cannot achieve."

Sakura nodded in empathy. "I've never been able to understand men, but I think you put it perfectly, Hinata. I feel the same way about Sasuke though sometimes I think his heart has much less room for others than Naruto's."

"I'm sure he has enough room for you too, Sakura," Hinata reassured.

"Sometimes I wonder," Sakura sighed.

Hinata simply nodded, looking uncomfortable. Sakura figured she did not want to continue their conversation and so they remained silent the rest of the way through dish cleaning. Sakura excused herself soon after and headed back home alone.

* * *

 Only a few people littered the streets. The lights of nighttime restaurants illuminated the streets along with the occasional lamplight. An occasional murmur of conversation or laughter reached her ears; the villagers that were out were enjoying themselves. To get back home Sakura had to walk through downtown Konoha before she could branch off to the more private living district streets. She kept her eyes on the ground as she let her feet guide her home.

Sakura hoped she did not cross a line by suddenly asking Hinata such a personal question about her marriage with Naruto. She figured Hinata was the only one that could relate to her after all, considering Sakura's insecurities had to do with Naruto and Sasuke's special bond, and both women were married to one of them. As Sakura admitted, she had difficulty understanding men so she thought Hinata might have better insight than her on her troubled thoughts. What Hinata had to say was a bit reassuring, and Sakura felt that understanding Sasuke better was key to better accepting who he was, and thus happier her marriage would be.

Sakura fiddled with the ring on her finger. It was a bit too small so wearing it for too long was uncomfortable. It often felt foreign on her ring finger. Many married women would not remove it once it was placed on their finger but with Sakura's occupations as both a doctor and ninja, it was either an inconvenience or a threat. A ring might get caught on something or it would be a clue for an enemy-nin that she had an attachment that could be used against her so thus it remained at home more often than not.

She remembered the day Sasuke asked her to marry him. It was a very casual affair. The two of them were sitting at a park bench, and Sakura's arms were wrapped around one of his. While staring off into the treeline he said, 'Sakura, do you want to get married?' Sakura's breath had caught in her throat; the question came out of the blue but she answered with an enthusiastic 'Yes!' Sasuke nodded, his gaze still distant, perhaps too shy to look at her, she had assumed. 'Good. It's about time I try to fully become a part of Konoha again.' Sakura's heart had swelled up with pride that he considered his proposal to her as part of his reintegration into their village.

But now that she had time to ponder the situation, was that all she was? A simple box checked on Sasuke's list to reintegrate into Konoha society? Sakura's throat tightened at the thought, insecurities flowing back inside her. Her pace hastened, wanting nothing more than to hide in the safety of her own home, away from prying eyes.

"Sakura!" She heard a familiar voice call.

As soon as she turned her head Lee was beside her, matching her gait. "Hello, Lee," she greeted, sparing him only a glance before she returned her gaze to the street. She didn't want Lee to see that she was troubled again.

"Good evening, Sakura! I did not expect to run into you. It seems like we do that a lot, but I promise that I am not purposely trying to follow you." What Lee started as a well-intentioned comment ended uncomfortably, which he seemed to realize as he immediately after let out a nervous chuckle and a cough. "W-What I mean is—"

"I know what you mean," Sakura interrupted, to spare him the task of trying to recover himself. "Don't worry, Lee."

"G-Great!" Lee exclaimed. Sakura could hear the relief in his voice. "So how are you doing this evening?"

"I am doing well. I'm just heading home from a dinner at Naruto's."

"Ah, so that explains the beautiful dress. It really compliments your eye color," Lee stated.

A huff of amusement escaped Sakura's lips as they tilted into a smirk.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lee tilt his head in confusion. "Is there a joke I missed?"

"No, it's just you said that so matter-of-fact rather than as an opinion."

"Because it is true. I am a passionate man, and to stay true to myself I try to only say things I completely believe in," he said with pride.

"If you say so," she rolled her eyes, amused. Sakura could already feel her mood improving. Lee's eccentric, open personality seemed to do that, which was always a breath of fresh air when compared to Sasuke's cold demeanor. Sakura decided to stop staring at the ground and glanced over at Lee. His black hair was matted down with sweat. "Let me guess. You've been training as usual today?"

"You guessed correctly! Since you were busy with other matters I decided to further work on my taijutsu."

"...I'm sorry I didn't notify you sooner I wasn't coming, Lee. The Naruto dinner plan was scheduled last minute."

"It is not a problem! I completely understand. I do not want you to ever feel pressured to join me if you do not want to." Lee turned his head towards her and gave her a reassuring smile.

But Sakura's face turned to horror. "What happened to your face?!"

The opposite side of Lee's face was covered with a dark, mottled bruise. The bruise had swollen so large that it disfigured the shape of Lee's cheek, and his right eye was almost swollen shut.

"Oh nothing special," Lee said nonchalantly. "It was a new training regimen of mine."

"What type of training regimen does that?!"

"I would be more than happy to share that with you," Lee said, now giddy with excitement. He was seemingly unaffected by his terrible face wound. "It's a training regimen I can easily do by myself although it needs a bit of set up. I have a nice place in the forest with densely packed, sturdy branches. I bend all these branches back and secure them all to one common point so when I throw a kunai at it the ties break then all the branches come rushing at me at once and I need to dodge them." Lee then hung his head in shame. "...But I was unable to dodge one of them and this is the result."

Sakura sighed. "You shouldn't feel bad. In fact,  _I_  feel bad that I didn't show up to train with you just to make sure you didn't hurt yourself like this. Here, let me heal you."

"Oh, please do not worry about—"

Lee's mouth clamped shut when Sakura grabbed his forearm and led him to a nearby park bench underneath a streetlight. "Sit."

Lee obeyed. "I should have realized I did not have an option when talking to my doctor," he chuckled, embarrassed.

"Correct," Sakura smirked. Sakura joined Lee on the park bench and immediately studied the bruise, carefully brushing her hand along it to make sure the face bones beneath it were not broken while leaning in close, trying to get the best out of the streetlight's poor lighting.

A redness crept on Lee's cheeks and he then darted his eyes away from Sakura, instead looking down at his feet. "How does it look...?"

"No broken bones, thankfully. It looks like I just have to heal the tissue," Sakura responded, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She placed a hand gently on the bruise and began to channel healing chakra into Lee's face, causing both of them to illuminate with a soft green glow from her hands.

A silence fell between them as Sakura concentrated on healing. As the minutes went by, the swelling started to go down and Sakura could finally recognize the right side of Lee's face again.

"...Thank you, Sakura," Lee said, breaking the silence. He had pulled his eyes back up from the ground to Sakura.

"You need not thank me. I couldn't let you go around scaring other people with that face," she said lightheartedly. "You already scared me half to death with it."

A sheepish smile spread across Lee's face. "I apologize, Sakura. That was not my intention but in my defense, I have not looked in a mirror yet today so I did not know how terrible it was."

"Apology accepted, though my doctor recommendation is to think of another training regimen that doesn't do this to you. As much as you are my favorite patient, I won't always be readily available to put you back together, you know," Sakura said gently.

"That is unfortunate but I understand."

"Look on the bright side! For motivation to keep you away from that regimen I'll show up to training tomorrow."

"Excellent! Training with you is my favorite part of the day after all," Lee remarked.

"I'm sure. I know how much you love training."

"Well, I enjoy it for more than just that. I enjoy your company as well."

Sakura blushed, caught off guard, thankful for the cover of night. "Is that so?"

"Y-Yes! It is nice to rekindle our friendship that I feared had faded permanently after the war. Often when we would pass each other on the street I would hope for a proper excuse to say something more than 'hello' to you but I never found it. As much as I regret my performance on my last mission and how it left me in the hospital, I was thankful that it gave me a proper excuse to say more than 'hello' to you."

"Lee... you didn't need a brush with death to give you a proper excuse to talk to me. It seems unlike you to worry about that sort of social etiquette. I thought Rock Lee was a spur of the moment type of guy, wearing his heart proudly on his sleeve."

Lee looked away from her once again, now fiddling with the bandages on his arms. "People do change with age, and I understand now that my usual approach is not always the best for all situations."

"What's so different about coming to talk to me?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lee rubbed the back of his head, mumbling an excuse she could not make out.

"Sorry, I missed that. What are you saying?"

"Well, it's just..." Lee began, hesitant. He looked at Sakura, his round eyes filled with a mixture of worry and guilt. His fists tightened in his lap. "Please forgive me if bringing this up upsets you again, but it is because you seemed troubled for so long. It upset me to see you like that and I wanted nothing more than to return a real smile to your face, but I did not know how."

"Lee I..." Sakura's throat immediately tightened and her eyebrows knitted together in pain. With her concentration distracted, the green healing chakra flickered. Lee's expression was mixed with concern and guilt, but most of all a tenderness and openness that reached out for a connection to Sakura—that unfamiliar feeling made her feel vulnerable, and that frightened her.  _"Why?"_ she finally said. Why did he care so much? Why did he care more than her parents or Ino who never dug past the surface of her troubles? Why Rock Lee, whom she had never done any favors for?

Lee hesitantly placed his bandaged hand on top of Sakura's that was still cradling his cheek, healing chakra no longer radiating from it. His hand was warm and rough with callouses, and it filled Sakura with comfort as it cradled her own. "You forget my promise, Sakura," he said, keeping his gaze steady despite the regret painted across his face for speaking honestly. "And please do not think I feel only obligation towards this promise; abiding to it is very important to me as it brings me personal happiness."

The softness in Lee's expression as he gazed into Sakura's eyes brought butterflies to her stomach. The way he looked at her reminded her of the way Naruto looked at Hinata and the way she wanted Sasuke to look at her. "Lee... do you still have feelings for me?"

Lee's eyes widened, his once tender expression gone to shock. He immediately recoiled his hand off of Sakura's as though it had suddenly burned him. "No, of course not!" he stammered. After Lee regained his composure his expression turned guarded and Sakura could no longer read them as openly as she could mere moments ago. "You are married. The days of my unrequited love are over. I see you now as only a friend, nothing more, but my promise still stands. What kind of person would I be if I just broke that promise?"

Sakura removed her hand from Lee's face. The green-clad shinobi was sitting stiffly in place. "I see," Sakura said softly. "I'm glad to hear that I can't hurt you in that way anymore. Keeping such a promise for so long really makes you an amazing guy. Don't ever change, Lee." Sakura stood up from the bench. "I think I've healed your face the best I can for now. I should probably head back home now."

Lee cracked a small smile. "Thank you, Sakura. Once again, I apologize for bringing this subject matter up and for my inappropriate behavior. Let us pretend that this conversation never happened?"

"Deal," Sakura nodded with a curt smile. "Goodnight, Lee."

"Goodnight, Sakura."

Sakura left Lee at the park bench staring at his hands with eyebrows deeply furrowed in thought.


	11. Parallels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee and Sakura realize they are a lot alike.

It was just a fluke, Lee told himself. He had hit his head hard on a branch and that had scrambled his brains that night. That is why when he looked at Sakura's face so close to his own, alit by the gentle green light of her chakra, that he felt his heart thud loudly in his chest and butterflies in his stomach. That is why when she looked at him with such pain in her beautiful jade-green eyes that he felt so compelled to put his hand on hers in the hope that it would show her how much he cared.

 _I no longer have feelings for her,_ he told himself firmly. He had feelings for Sakura Haruno years ago but now he absolutely could not for Sakura Uchiha.

When Sakura came to training the next day he greeted her with an awkward grin, relieved that the butterflies did not return. She greeted him warmly in return, seemingly keeping her end of the deal to forget the uncomfortably intimate moment they had the night before. Lee felt immediately at ease. Things between them would remain nothing more than friendly.

After their usual sparring session they once again sat down in their private place in the forest with Sakura's hand on his chest.

"I have an idea I think we should try," Sakura said.

Lee's eyes lit up with excitement. "Oh? What would that be?"

"You can sense my chakra in your chakra stream, right?"

Lee nodded.

"Good. Normally I let my chakra drift in your chakra stream. This time I'm going to control it to go against your natural flow. I want you to follow it and try to match it."

"That sounds like a great idea, Sakura!"

Sakura smiled back. "Thanks, but we'll see if it actually works. I'm not sure if this will have any side effects so stop me if you feel uncomfortable."

"Will do!"

"Alright, let's start."

Lee nodded, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

He pushed away all worldly distractions in an instant until there was nothing left but his chakra stream. He had become talented at doing that after many weeks of practice. He followed his chakra pathway through his body until he located a foreign entity—Sakura's chakra. It cut through his chakra stream in the opposing direction and circled through his system. Lee focused on it. He followed it through his chakra pathway system, from limb to limb, until he felt fully synchronized to it. Lee then called his will upon his chakra stream with all his mental might to follow Sakura's chakra.

"It's slowing!" Sakura's voice said excitedly. "Keep on going!"

He kept up the pressure, straining himself as he pushed himself further.

But after a few moments Sakura's voice came to him again, the excitement gone from her voice. "Lee, I don't feel it slowing any further..."

Lee felt disappointment rise within him but he forced it away aggressively.  _No. This is the day I succeed._

Lee gathered up determination he did not know he still had and pushed. Lee lost focus on his chakra stream for a moment as he felt suddenly disoriented as though something he could not explain changed within him in an instant, and then the strain he put on his mental will eased away until it felt like second-nature to will his chakra stream. He thought he heard something calling to him but he could not understand it, ignoring it in favor of swiftly refocusing himself on his chakra stream. He refused to fail now. He then tried to relocate Sakura's chakra but he had to strain to find it. Where it at once stuck out like a sore thumb, now it was camouflaged in with his own chakra stream. What did that mean? Before he could contemplate much on it he heard that something speak to him again, but much louder. He focused in on it until he recognized it to be someone, and someone he recognized.

"Lee, wake up!"

Suddenly his whole body was shaking, pulling him out of his state of concentration. The bright light of the sun through the treetops blinded him for a moment as his torso continued to violently shake back and forth.

_"Lee!"_

Lee shook his head, regaining his senses. When his eyes readjusted he fully opened them to see Sakura's concerned face with her hands gripping his shoulders, shaking him aggressively. "Yes, Sakura?" Lee said innocently, oblivious as to why he was shaken and not thinking to ask why.

"Oh thank god," Sakura sighed in relief and her expression relaxed.

She released her tight grip on his shoulders but Lee immediately fell over on his back, letting out a surprised squeak. It seemed as though his sense of balance still was finding its way back to him.

Lee heard Sakura try to hide a snicker.

Lee scrambled back up to a proper sitting position, folded his arms across his chest has though nothing happened, and huffed in humiliation at his sudden lost of composure.

Sakura snickered again. "Sorry, Lee, don't feel embarrassed, it happened to me my first time too."

Lee cleared his throat. "Your first time?"

"Yep! When you reverse your chakra flow for the first time it can be disorienting for a bit after until you get used it."

Lee stared at her blankly. "Wait, are you saying that I did it?"

"Yes! You did it, Lee! You fully reversed your chakra flow in one go!" Sakura grinned proudly at him.

Lee's mouth gaped open, staring at Sakura in disbelief. Then came a quiet "I did it..." as though he was unsure of the words. Lee repeated it louder with more confidence, a confirmation to himself. "I did it." Lee then leaped up on his feet, startling Sakura, a large grin on his face. "Guy-sensei, I did it!" he declared loudly to the forest, fist pumping the air. He suddenly had so much energy coursing through him that he _had_  to let it out in some way. He let out a compulsive victory shout and stormed around the forest as nothing but a blur. When he returned to Sakura she was now standing while patting down windblown hair in displeasure.

"Was that your victory lap?" Sakura said dryly.

Lee took Sakura's hands in his own with the utmost gratitude. "Thank you, Sakura! I mean it! I could not have done it without you!"

Sakura blinked in surprise at the physical gesture, but it was obvious enough it was supposed to be a chaste gesture free from other implications. She then let out a halfhearted laugh that drifted off awkwardly. "Um, Lee?"

"Yes, Sakura?" he said, his voice still filled to the brim with joy.

"This is just the start of your training."

The joy and relief fell from Lee's face. He released Sakura's hands. "W-What?" he said, his voice thick with disappointment.

"Yes, you've done it one time in deep concentration with assistance. That won't work in thick of battle. This is the point where we start practicing it until you get good enough at it that you won't have to struggle to activate it. But don't worry, you've completed the hardest part," Sakura reassured.

"Oh, I guess that is good to hear," Lee said, trying to regain his spirits.

"Hey, cheer up! You ought to be happy," Sakura insisted. "We can start on the next part right now if you'd like."

"Really?"

"Yep!" Sakura put her hand back on Lee's chest. "Now do it again but without my chakra guidance!" she demanded.

"Y-Yes, Sakura!"

By the end of their training session Lee had reversed his chakra flow an additional five times. There was some initial struggle to replicate his initial results but with Lee's determination he was able to get a grasp at doing it on his own. Right when he had reversed his chakra stream for the second time, Lee wobbled on his feet and Sakura had to catch him by her tight grip on his jumpsuit so he would not fall backwards again. After that time they went back to sitting down for Lee's safety. With each time his balance got a little better and he was able to reverse his chakra stream a little faster.

"Alright, Lee, next time we'll practice more. Good job today," Sakura said, standing up and brushing the stray grass off her legs.

Lee stood up as well. "Thank you! It was only due to your brilliant idea that I was able to succeed today so you deserve credit as well."

Sakura's eyes lit up at the recognition and smiled warmly. "Thank you, Lee. I appreciate it."

The two of them walked side by side back to the training grounds and then followed the pathway back into Konoha. It was time to head home. Sakura had gone quiet. She was biting her lip, looking down at her feet as they walked. Lee dearly hoped whatever was now troubling her would pass her soon, as he knew he should not pry despite his desire to, so he could help her in some way.

Sakura finally spoke. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you. That's something a teacher should never do," Sakura said regretfully, kicking a pebble in their path.

 _She was thinking about me?_  Lee thought.

"Is it alright, Sakura," Lee reassured. "I was not hurt. I would not be who I am today if I did not believe in myself." He gave her a thumbs up and a grin.

Sakura studied his face for a moment before looking back to the path, a subtle smile on her face. "That's good. I really do admire your confidence and optimism, Lee, especially as someone who has struggled with believing in her own abilities."

"T-Thank you," Lee stammered. His heart fluttered at the flattery but he quickly fought the feeling down. "...but someone like yourself had difficulties with confidence?" he said in disbelief.

Sakura nodded. "As a genin I graduated with top marks but when it came to the real deal, where my life was on the line for the first time, I did nothing but stand still and shake while the rest of my team did all the work. Not only that, I was always outclassed by Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke I understood—he was a genius after all—but Naruto had the lowest marks in the class yet he still did more than I did just because he had guts. Both of them grew exponentially while I was left always looking at their backs, needing to be protected. It wasn't hard for me to not believe in myself." She let out a short, bitter laugh. "I think Kakashi-sensei gave up on me pretty soon because he only focused on Naruto and Sasuke so I had to pursue Lady Tsunade to become the strong woman I am today."

"...I am sorry, Sakura. I did not know. It was not fair for Kakashi-sensei to neglect you like that. The only reason I am the man I am today is because of my own sensei's confidence in me so it bothers me to see someone else lacking in that."

Sakura dismissed his concern with a wave her hand. "It's all in the past now. There's no point in me dwelling on it."

"I think that makes you admirable. You had the courage to convince the legendary Tsunade to be your teacher because no one else tried to help you reach your potential. When my self-confidence in my abilities wavered I was ready to give up rather than find help."

Sakura quickly turned her head to Lee, her eyes wide. "You,  _the_  Rock Lee, was once not confident in himself?"

Lee chuckled. "Yes. I too had issues with confidence as a genin. I made it through the academy without much of a dent to my confidence, despite my classmates constant bullying."

"I know what that's like, I was bullied in the academy too. People called me Billboard-brow or Forehead," Sakura huffed.

"I was called either Dork Lee or Eyebrows," Lee chortled.

"Academy kids were so mean! I'm glad I don't see them around anymore."

Lee nodded. "Despite their teasing we rose above them and became amazing shinobi," he smiled.

Sakura returned the smile. "You're right about that."

Lee continued. "I graduated with nothing more than below average marks in taijutsu and none in genjutsu or ninjutsu. I was bottom of the barrel much like Naruto. After I became a genin I made it my goal to prove myself as a talented shinobi despite my disadvantages. I wanted to defeat my eternal rival Neji, a genius, through hard work alone. I trained dawn until dusk, but I did not see any sort of results. Every mission I went on I found a way to mess up, maybe partly due to how much my legs shook when we started every mission." Lee let out an sheepish laugh.

"That sounds just like me..."

Lee nodded. "Both Neji and Tenten surpassed me in terms of ability. It was hard to see that even if I worked twice as hard as Neji or Tenten I still did not get results. Guy-sensei found me one day on the brink of giving up on myself and my goal, and he was able to restore my confidence."

"How did he do that?"

"He told me that I have the precious gift of perseverance but most importantly, training is pointless unless you believe in yourself. I think that is an important lesson for anyone. I always had a seed of doubt in the back of my mind but I denied its existence, hoping that mock confidence would be enough to combat it. I was wrong. It was a weed that had to be removed rather than ignored, only then was I able to grow, especially with Guy-sensei's support."

"That's a very wise saying, something I think I needed someone to tell me long ago, and maybe something I need to think about still today," Sakura said, contemplative. She then smiled at Lee; a warm, wide smile that reminded him of the smile she gave him when she thanked him in the Forest of Death. "You know, Lee, I used to think we were vastly different people. Turns out you and I aren't very different after all."

She was right, and it was something Lee would have not expected. Perhaps that is why he was drawn to her all those years ago. Perhaps it was more than just foolish youthful love. Perhaps a higher power drew him to her, out of all the other genin girls. Whatever it was, even if nothing, he was a thirteen-year-old fool who thought asking the pretty kunoichi to be his girlfriend right when he met her was a good idea despite knowing nothing but her face and name. His genin self did not know then what an amazing girl he had set his eyes on, and Lee cursed his ignorance, if only for his past self's inability to fully appreciate Sakura.

Lee's eyes softened. "It seems so. My only regret is not knowing about your struggles earlier. As someone who relates to it, I would have been more than happy to have been there to help you so you would have not suffered the same."

"But you did help me, Lee," Sakura said. "Remember the Forest of Death? I told you that you helped me awaken. That meant you were the catalyst towards my effort to become a stronger kunoichi."

Lee felt taken aback. He did not know that he had been so important to her growth as a person. "I did not fully comprehend what those words meant back then, but now I feel truly honored!" Lee felt tears of joy build up in his eyes but he fought them back and rubbed his eyes on his arm. He could have a tearful moment with Guy later if need be.

Sakura giggled. "Yes, so thank you, Lee. I am the woman I am today thanks to you. Hell, I would not even be around here today if not for you saving my life back then."

"Anytime, Sakura," Lee beamed.

The two of them were now stopped in front of a door, a door to a nice house in the living district. Sakura was looking at him expectantly while digging through one of her pockets which produced a key. He then realized he had accidentally followed Sakura home without noticing.

"Ah, sorry, I was so caught up in our conversation that I did not realize I followed you home," Lee apologized, rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't notice either for the same reason," she laughed, a pleasant airy laugh.

"Well, goodnight then, Sakura."

"Goodnight, Lee. I enjoyed our conversation. It's been too long since I've felt so free to share things about myself and I was happy to learn new things about you too."

"The feeling is mutual."

When they looked into each other's eyes Lee felt that there was something new there; it was a feeling of mutual understanding, respect, and perhaps admiration shared between them. Before their deep gazes could linger on for too long and bring up undesired feelings, Lee turned away from her and began to walk back down the street.

"See you next time, Sakura," Lee said with a wave, not looking back.

"Next time," Sakura responded softly.

Lee heard Sakura's door open as she entered her house and then shut the door. Now only he needed to return home. Lee sighed. He hoped that this new closeness to Sakura would not stir up his old feelings. He already felt like he had to guard himself carefully after last night. He once had feelings for Sakura Haruno, but now he absolutely could not for Sakura Uchiha. That taboo path would lead to nothing more than pain and controversy.


	12. Pendulum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee observes the changes in Sakura's mood.

"Guy-sensei, I did it! I reversed my chakra flow!"

"Good job, Lee! I knew with enough hard work my precious student would be able to do it!"

Tears flowed from both men as they embraced with Tenten sighing in the background, leaning on a bo staff she had summoned. It was a typical Sunday practice for the remainder of Guy's team, even if half of their members were either dead or severely crippled.

"It was all thanks to Sakura that I was able to do it," Lee said, a dopey grin on his face.

"I'm eternally grateful that such a capable kunoichi took you under her wing. You're on the right step to becoming a jounin like me, Lee," Guy pointed to his puffed out chest, a blinding grin spread across his face. Guy still exuberated the same youth and energy despite being restricted to a wheelchair.

Lee's eyes sparkled. "I certainly hope so. Being as great as a shinobi are you are is my dream!"

Tenten shifted uncomfortably. "Lee, you know that in order to become a jounin you need to be able to manipulate at least two elemental chakras, right?"

Lee's head darted back and forth between Tenten and Guy, his eyes bulged. "What?! Is this true Guy-sensei?!"

"Hmm, Tenten is correct. Even I learned to manipulate two elements before I became a jounin."

Lee's expression fell. "Does this mean... that I have no hope to become a jounin myself?"

"Of course not, Lee!" Guy grinned, confident as ever. "You've made it this far with only taijutsu! Do not give up hope or you will not succeed. You became a genin without being able to do the clone jutsu so do not think that jounin entry requirements are any more set in stone."

A relieved smile spread across Lee's face. "Yes, Guy-sensei!"

"Wait a minute," Tenten interjected. "Putting false hope in something like that is a bad idea. You could be setting yourself up for disappointment. Don't forget that if you can't become a jounin there is still the tokubetsu jounin, AKA the tokujo. It's a rank under, because all it does it acknowledge you have jounin-expertise in a single area, but it's better than being stuck a chunin."

"If I am below the rank of jounin that means that I will not have become a shinobi as great as Guy-sensei," Lee responded, defiant.

Tenten sighed. "It doesn't hurt to be realistic, Lee."

Guy wheeled up to Tenten, his face twisted in over-the-top distraught. "Tenten, where is the optimism that I tried so hard to teach my students?! Have I failed you?!"

Tenten prodded Guy backwards with her bo staff. "Personal space, please!" she huffed.

Lee quietly watched the two of them, a troubled frown on his face. If a tokujo rank was for a shinobi that only specialized in one area, like Lee was with taijutsu, what hope was there that he could surpass that to a rank that seemingly required him to be more rounded? Tokujo were assigned as subordinates to jounin but he did not want to be that. He did not want to be stuck below his idol, Guy, or his dearly missed rival, Neji. He did not want to be below his friends like Sakura or the other jounin Rookie 9 members; if called to a mission he would want to fight with them as an equal, not a subordinate to be commanded.

"I think Tenten is right," Lee said, solemn. "I do not want to give myself false hope but it does not mean I cannot try my hardest to become a jounin anyway."

Guy and Tenten turned their attention back to Lee with concerned eyes.

"Lee..." Tenten took a step towards him.

Lee put on a grin. "Do not worry, Tenten. I am fine. Shall we begin our training?"

Tenten put on a hesitant smile and nodded.

* * *

 Monday practice Sakura came on time. Lee lost track of time doing pre-warm-up exercises by punching a wooden dummy when someone tapped his shoulder. When he turned around to see the pink-haired kunoichi smiling sweetly at him his eyes immediately lit up and he put on a gawky grin.

"Oh! Sakura! Good afternoon!"

"Likewise, Lee."

"I apologize for not noticing you sooner."

"No need to apologize. Why are you training before our usual training time? Will I have to worry about you tiring out faster than usual?" Sakura put her hands on her hips, an eyebrow raised.

"I simply worry that you will beat me one day in our sparring matches and I will no longer have any right to call myself a taijutsu master," he joked. "That is why I must train even harder than before to make sure that does not happen. I swear to you that it will not affect our genjutsu training."

Sakura eyed Lee, holding back a smile. "Is that so? I thought you were more confident in yourself than that."

Lee leaned against the dummy and folded his arms across his chest. "Yes, though confidence is not the same as cockiness. I also have no issues acknowledging your talents in comparison to my own."

A coy smile spread across Sakura's face. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're complimenting me. But don't worry, if I beat you I promise I won't tell a soul so you can still go around calling yourself a taijutsu master."

"I appreciate the thought but do not worry, you will not be burdened with such a secret if I do not let you win," Lee smirked.

" _Let me_ , you say? C'mon, Lee, let's start right now! I'll show you that you don't get to freely decide these things," Sakura declared, lifting her fists into a fighting pose, a confident grin on her face.

 _That is the old Sakura I have missed,_  Lee mused.

Lee stepped away from the dummy and dropped into his signature fighting posture. "As you wish."

Lee won the sparring match as usual. Sakura cursed and promised him that she would get him one day. The two of them then settled down in their usual secluded spot in the forest. The two shinobi sat down across from each other. Sakura had Lee reverse his chakra a few more times in deep concentration to warm up before deciding it was time for the next step.

"I want you to reverse your chakra while looking me in the eyes," Sakura stated.

Lee blinked. "Why is that?"

"You need to be able to reverse your chakra while grounded in the real world and all its distractions, not deeply in your own mind."

"That makes sense! All right! Let us start!" Lee exclaimed, eager as ever.

Sakura's eyes glinted with amusement and placed her hand on Lee's chest once again. "Whenever you're ready."

Out of habit Lee closed his eyes but he immediately realized his mistake and forced them open. When his eyes locked with Sakura's she nodded in approval.

Lee attempted to focus on his chakra flow but now that he could no longer block out sights and sounds he had a hard time locating it. The trees rustled in the breeze; the birds chirped and darted through the trees. The grass tickled his open toes and the gentle pressure of Sakura's hand on his chest brought focus to his heart thumping in his chest. All of it was a distraction. Though the biggest distraction of all was the kunoichi seated in front of him. The longer he looked into her twinkling jade-green eyes the more uncomfortable Lee was, and the harder it was to find his chakra. The corner of Sakura's mouth twitched up into a mischievous smirk. Lee was sure she could plainly see his discomfort now. Unable to look at her any longer he glanced his eyes away, heat rising in his cheeks.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Sakura giggled. "Looking others in the eyes for prolonged period of time makes everyone uncomfortable. That's why I picked it for your training."

Lee hesitantly met eyes with her again. "You are not wrong," Lee said, fidgeting in place. "Though I could not sense any discomfort from you."

Sakura shrugged. "When you're controlling the situation it's not as weird. So I'm sorry, you're the only one who gets to suffer here," she teased.

Lee pouted. "Very well, I will overcome this challenge alone."

Silence fell between them again as Lee stared intently into Sakura's eyes, eyebrows furrowed in focus. He tried not to think of the situation between them as he focused in on her pupils. Using them at a concentration point he searched within himself for his chakra once more. Once he caught a hint of it a bird chirp broke his concentration and he was pulled out of his chakra stream. He blinked.

"Keep on trying," Sakura encouraged.

Lee smiled in appreciation and regathered his focus.

Monday's practice session ended with Lee able to identify his chakra stream completely, but unfortunately attempting to reverse it would have to wait for another day. After staring into Sakura's eyes for so long he did learn a few of their subtleties. Her pupils widened slightly whenever Lee broken concentration and they narrowed in focus when Lee was ready to try again. Her eyes wavered when Lee could hear scurrying animals behind him out of a resisted habit of any cautious shinobi to identify possible threats. Her irises were splashes and streaks of lighter and darker greens, reminiscent of a beautiful jade stone. Lee wondered if he would learn something new about her eyes every time they practiced this way.

When they parted ways Sakura smiled widely at him and said she would see him again tomorrow. Lee waved as she walked away.

He loved how much happier she seemed that day. Not only that, something seemed to have changed between them since they last talked. Some of the formality had left; instead there was a casual lightheartedness to their interactions. Sakura's old spunkiness had returned. When Lee locked eyes with her there was a brightness he had not seen in them for a long time and that particular fondness in her eyes was reserved for him, the man who understood her struggles from identical experience. Those jade eyes looked upon him with wordless acknowledgement and respect and that filled Lee with warmth. He hoped when she looked him in the eyes she could see and feel the same thing.

Had he done it? Had Lee helped Sakura break her cycle of depression through their training? He was not sure. He did not want to stroke his ego by thinking that he was the sole reason she was like this today. Even if he had nothing to do with it Lee would still be overjoyed. He hoped that she remained this way forever.

* * *

 Tuesday morning Lee caught sight of Sasuke for the first time in months. He was cloaked and his hair was growing out so Lee almost did not recognize him until they locked eyes. Sasuke's dark eyes stared at Lee's for only a moment before he returned his gaze back to the street in front of him. They passed each other without saying a single word to each other.

A cold chill filled Lee. That Rinnegan seemed to stare deep within Lee's soul. Terrible memories of the war flashed in his mind. Lee losing Neji and the fear that he would also lose Guy to the Eight Gates to take down Madara, who also had those judging Rinnegan eyes. Then memories of being trapped in Infinite Tsukuyomi for what felt like a lifetime; taunted with the false bittersweet memories of Neji, alive once more, and Sakura miraculously returning his affections. His _former_  affections, Lee reminded himself.

* * *

 Tuesday afternoon Sakura did not show until an hour later than expected. Lee had glumly wondered if perhaps she was having another dinner with Naruto as he began practice on his own.

"Hey," a quiet voice sounded behind him, so quiet he almost missed it over the dull thuds of his fists on the wooden dummy.

Lee turned around. This time he was not met with a sweet smile from the pink kunoichi. Instead the corners of her lips sunk down, dark circles were under her once bright eyes and her posture rigid rather than relaxed. The transformation between Monday's Sakura and today's was alarming. This was the Sakura Lee used to pass on the streets: sullen and withdrawn. What had happened to yesterday's Sakura?

Lee must have been staring at her for too long because Sakura spoke up once again. "...Sorry for being late. I was... kept later at work."

"It is not a problem. I am just happy you came," Lee responded, giving her a worried smile.

Sakura nodded. "Shall we start with our usual sparring match?"

"Of course."

Sakura's moves were sluggish and did not have the enthusiasm they did the day before. Lee easily avoided her sloppy punches and his counters often ended up with her losing her balance. Lee stopped the match early, insisting that his earlier training that day had wore him out. Sakura took the excuse well enough. Lee offered her a hand to help her up off the ground, she took it, and they headed to their genjutsu training spot.

 _I will just ask her how she is doing. I will not pry,_  Lee promised himself.

"Are you okay today, Sakura?" Lee asked, his thick eyebrows furrowed.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Of course. Why would I not be?"

"You are positive? You seem different than you were yesterday so I am worried." Sakura's posture stiffened. Lee quickly added, "I just do not want you to feel obligated to train with me if you are not well, that is all."

"Just please be your usual self and I will be fine," Sakura said, giving Lee a strained smile. "Anyway, shall we start?"

Lee hesitantly nodded.

As they sat down to train troubled thoughts swirled in Lee's head when he looked into Sakura's eyes. He found himself intently studying them instead and all their differences compared to the day before. Her eyes were dull and unfocused; their vibrant colors seemed faded. Lines of strain hid underneath them; her eyes lacked the warmth and attentiveness they did the day before.

 _Sasuke..._  Lee clenched his fists in his lap. He had to be the reason why she was like this. He had probably returned the night before and upset her.  _What did you do to her?_

More than anything at that moment Lee wanted to punch Sasuke hard in his Uchiha face in the hopes that it would knock sense into that cold man. How dare he drown Sakura's warmth and joy in his own frigid demeanor. How could he not to everything in his power to make sure a smile remained on that beautiful face? How could one take a wonderful woman like Sakura for granted?

"Lee?" Sakura broke him out of his thoughts. "Having trouble finding it again?"

Lee blinked, refocusing on the real world. Sakura was waiting for an answer. "Er, yes."

"Let me suggest something I should have mentioned yesterday. Hold up one of your hands in front of you like this." Sakura raised her free hand in front of her and held it with the first two fingers pointing out together. Lee recognized it as gesture Guy would use for genjutsu dissipation. "This is a trick to help you focus. Concentrate on the chakra at your fingertips and follow it down to your core."

 _I need to stop distracting myself over something that is none of my business,_ Lee thought, thinking back to Tenten's advice. Yet the idea of sitting idly by while Sakura suffered agitated him.  _Though is it right to ignore a friend in suffering? It feels wrong._

"Yes, Sakura!" Lee mimicked her gesture, pushing any remaining troubling thoughts to the back of his mind.

Lee was able to locate his chakra stream but he could not find the inner strength to reverse it. Every time he sensed Sakura's chakra inside of him his thoughts wandered back to his concern for her and his anger towards Sasuke. With each attempt Lee became increasingly frustrated.

"You're tense," Sakura commented mildly. "Is everything okay?" she asked as though mimicking his own question earlier to her.

 _I cannot make things awkward like that one night,_  Lee told himself. Sakura had thankfully agreed to forget that moment between them. He did not wish to test his luck again.

Lee broke eye contact with Sakura momentarily out of discomfort. Lee nodded. "Of course!" he exclaimed, mustering up all the enthusiasm he could. "I just have a few things on my mind, that is all."

"Oh? Like what?" Sakura innocently asked.

"Well..." Lee thought for a moment. "I am concerned that I will not be able to become a jounin." It was the truth, though not what was troubling Lee at that particular moment. He figured it would suffice.

"Why?"

"Tenten says that I need to be able to manipulate two elemental chakras before I can become a jounin. I cannot manipulate any element. It seems I might not be able to rise any higher than a tokujo because of my taijutsu focus."

"Tokujo is still a respected rank. Many of them outclass regular jounin in their respective focus. When jounin call in tokujo they are saying 'We're not good enough in this particular talent. We need an expert.' So please do not think that if you are stuck a tokujo that people will look down on you." Sakura gave a soft, reassuring smile but it only lasted for a fleeting moment.

"I never thought of it that way," Lee admitted. "Thank you."

Sakura studied him for a moment with a serious expression. "You don't seem entirely convinced."

Lee rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe so. While my goal is to prove to the world that I can be a splendid shinobi without ninjutsu and genjutsu I would also like to be able catch up to Guy, Neji, you and our other jounin friends. I do not want to be left behind and become stagnant. I... I wish to be an equal to you and the others, not a subordinate."

"I relate to your desire to want to catch up when you feel like you're falling behind, but Lee, you don't need a title or rank to prove your talents as a shinobi. You are already at jounin-level if you ask me. Naruto was a genin until he became Hokage. Was he not incredibly powerful as a genin?"

"You make a fair point," Lee admitted. Not only that, Naruto would be a Hokage to ignore official rank in favor of his personal assessment of shinobi skill.

"Even if all you end up with is a tokujo rank because the bureaucracy can't see how exceptional you are, I know all our friends will see you as what you are, not just your rank. If we fight on the battlefield again you will be my equal even if our ranks differ."

_Sakura... You were supposed to the troubled one here yet here you are consoling me instead._

Lee eyes watered, touched. "Thank you, Sakura. I feel I can now put this concern behind me. I feel like a new man!"

"Anytime, Lee. At least one of us needs a bit more enthusiasm right now." The corners of her mouth tilted ever so slightly upwards.

"But I would prefer both of us to have this enthusiasm! What can I do for you so we can be equivalent in these matters?" Lee asked lightheartedly, but his eyes intently searched hers for an answer.

Sakura huffed in amusement. "As I said, just be yourself, Lee. That is enough for me."

"I can do that."

Lee flashed a grin at her. Despite the lines under her eyes and her rigid posture a sincere smile spread across Sakura's face.

 _That is the smile I was looking for,_  Lee thought.

Through the week Sakura's mood and demeanor gradually improved. Lee assumed it was due to Sasuke leaving Konoha once more. From what Lee noticed whenever Sasuke returned to the village Sakura's mood would immediately dip back down to the withdrawn, sullen state it once was. At the end of the week Lee happily noticed that Sakura's cheerful mood had returned to her... but the next day it went back down to the low levels it had been on Tuesday when Lee had run into Sasuke. The Uchiha had returned to Konoha, Lee assumed.

Despite ongoing concern for her Lee did his best to remain his cheerful, eccentric self. Sakura had told him that being himself would help her, so he did his best to do exactly that. It seemed to work, as Sakura gradually would reopen to her old self.

But...

Lee was not satisfied. He wanted Sakura to be happy all of the time, not just swinging back and forth between happiness and melancholy. What could he do? The problem appeared to be Sasuke, her husband, but Lee was in no place to interfere. What would he do anyway? Approach Sasuke and demand her treat her better or else? No, Lee did not even know what Sasuke was doing to Sakura and he did not want to think on the possibilities and enrage himself. Tell Sakura that Sasuke does not deserve her? No, it would be disrespectful and make it seem like he was trying to take advantage of her. Lee would be mortified if Sakura thought that about him. Lee had already promised he would help her with all her troubles, but did that mean waiting for her to approach him for help first?

Lee had never been involved with such a sticky situation before so he did not know and it deeply bothered him. How could he make due on his promise if he just sat back and did nothing even though there was a problem so plainly in front of him? He wish he knew.


	13. Ignorance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sudden breakthrough with Lee's training.

"Alright, Lee," Sakura said. "You've mastered reversing your chakra without meditation. I think it's time for you to try and break out of an actual genjutsu." She looked proudly at him as they sat across from each other in their usual secluded spot.

"W-Wow, really?!" Lee stammered, overjoyed. An impossibly large grin spread across his face. He leapt to his feet and readied himself in a ready pose. "I am ready whenever you are, Sakura."

Sakura chortled and stood up as well, but slower and calmly. She took a few steps back to put distance between the two of them. "This will be a a low-level genjutsu but it'll be reinforced so you can't just break out of it by realizing it's a genjutsu. Good luck, Lee."

A heavier breeze blew past him towards Sakura, and then she slowly disintegrated into pink petals, and they danced away in the wind. Lee rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Sakura must have done the hand signs when he was not looking. Suddenly the winds started to pick up and swirl around him, carrying hundreds of petals with their sweet scent. Faster they spun, until Lee was in the eye of a whirlwind of petals. Mesmerized, Lee reached out a hand into the strong winds as the petals whipped around. The petals gently brushed along his fingers.

 _What a beautiful genjutsu,_  Lee thought.

Then the winds picked up, and the petals began to spin aggressively closer to him, steadily shrinking the available space he had. Alarmed, Lee quickly raised his hand in the pose Sakura showed him. He focused on the chakra flowing through his fingertips before following it back down to his core.

 _Dissipate!_  Lee commanded.

He began his chakra flow reversal but he could feel a force pushing back, refusing to let him change his chakra's path.

The petals were closing in; he was starting to feel the claustrophobia build.

Nervous, Lee began to push back harder, but he felt that the more forceful he pushed the more Sakura's genjutsu wrenched control of his system.

Lee no longer had any space in the eye of the whirlwind. The petals were now so densely packed that he could not see the other side. As a last ditch effort Lee attempted to dive through the petals to safety on the other side. Instead he bounced off the spinning vortex of petals back into his spot. He was trapped. Suddenly the petals all dived towards him from all directions, clinging to every inch of his body. Lee struggled to escape but the petals held fast, trapping him in a stiff cocoon, leaving nothing but his head exposed.

Panicking, Lee called to his chakra stream again, pushing against the genjutsu force with more haste but to no avail.

The cocoon tipped backwards and Lee landed on the ground with an "Oof!"

"Having trouble?" Sakura's voice echoed around him. The petals began to shift, forming a large shape above him until it resembled a human form, then solidified into Sakura herself. Sakura was sitting casually on his cocooned chest, her legs folded.

"S-Sakura?!" Lee struggled once more, but the remaining petals still clung tightly to him.

"You're getting too distracted by the genjutsu.  _Focus_ ," Sakura instructed, studying her fingernails.

"I have tried, Sakura, but when I push back on the genjutsu's control it becomes even harder to fight it off," Lee admitted shamefully.

"You're letting your emotions distract you from control of your chakra pathway. Take a deep breath and relax. I won't hurt you in here. I promise." Sakura flashed a reassuring smile before once again disintegrating into petals.

_Sakura's right. I need to focus._

Lee took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He felt his nerves relax and his mind calm. Once again he focused on his chakra stream. He sensed the genjutsu force deep within him and slowly pushed. He felt the genjutsu stubbornly push back but he continued his assault, building up the force until he felt the genjutsu start to cave.

_Just a bit more..._

* * *

 

Sakura watched Lee silently as he struggled through the genjutsu. The two of them had not moved from when she had activated the genjutsu. Lee stood in place, eyes darting back and forth yet focused far away. She could feel him resisting her genjutsu as she maintained it.

 _You can do it, Lee... I believe in you,_  Sakura urged.

Suddenly Lee's shaky resistance focused to brunt force, shoving aggressively back at Sakura's genjutsu. It caught Sakura off-guard and she almost lost control right then and there. She doubled her focus on repelling him back. If he was going to break the genjutsu fairly she had to keep it adequately strong. Her resistance did not last long. She could feel Lee putting his all into it and paired with her lower chakra stamina and the lower level of the jutsu, her genjutsu snapped, freeing Lee.

Lee blinked, his eyes refocusing. He locked eyes with her, a bewildered expression on his face.

"Y-You did it!" Sakura said gleefully, rushing up to him. She clasped his shoulders in congratulations, full of pride. "You broke your first genjutsu!"

Lee stared blankly at her as the news sunk in. "I... I actually did it," he breathed in disbelief. "I did it!" Overcome with joy, Lee picked Sakura up by her waist and spun her. "I did it!" Lee let out a victorious, relieved laugh. "Thank you, Sakura! It is all thanks to you!" Sakura laughed with Lee as she spun him, her eyes filled with pride while his with gratitude. Lee then gently set her back on her feet.

"I'm so proud of you Lee," Sakura said, giddy.

"And I am grateful to have such an amazing teacher! It brings me great joy to see that I can learn important shinobi skills like this even with my disadvantages." Overcome with emotion, tears began to flow down Lee's cheeks. He rubbed his wet eyes on his arm.

Sakura's eyebrow raised in slight concern. "Er, no need to cry, Lee, it's okay."

"I apologize for my unsightly tears, Sakura. I am just positively overjoyed!"

Sakura dug through her bag attached to her waist and produced a handkerchief. "Here."

Lee gratefully took it and dabbed his watering eyes until they were dry again. "T-Thank you."

Lee handed back the embarrassingly soaked handkerchief and Sakura politely took it and placed it back in her bag.

"Lee, I'm very impressed that you were able to break out of my genjutsu on your first try. It really shows how far you've come from where we first started."

Lee beamed. "Thank you. If I might ask, where did you learn your genjutsu?"

"Kurenai, actually. Even if she's busy raising her child she could easily teach me in her living room," Sakura said thoughtfully.

"Ah, of course! Only the village's best genjutsu expert would suffice as a teacher for you, Sakura."

Sakura nodded. "She always liked her flower-themed genjutsu. I learned a lot of other fun ones I can show you later," she winked mischievously with an edge of sadism to her voice.

"...Oh?" Lee's eyes widened, his eyes flashing between confusion, embarrassment, and fear.

"But I digress," Sakura said, brushing off her previous comment. "We can practice more another day."

"But Sakura!" Lee protested.

"No buts!" Sakura shook his finger at him sternly. "You'll have to be patient."

"Okay..." Lee's shoulders slouched in disappointment.

Sakura's features then softened. "Don't worry, we still have plenty of time to practice. I promise you'll be a great genjutsu dispeller when I'm done with you," she smiled at him confidently and Lee's expression immediately brightened. "C'mon, let's head home."

Lee obediently followed.

Sakura glanced over at Lee as they walked. Lee caught her staring at him and he offered her a heartwarming smile. It was a smile that seemed to say many things, whether it was gratitude, reassurance, or fondness. Sakura could not help but smile warmly back.

Sakura acknowledged that she had grown closer to Lee as they had trained together. When he succeeded he shared his happiness with her, when she was feeling down Lee's diligently tried to cheer her up, albeit subtly. He never asked about Sasuke and that made Sakura happy. While they trained she could forget all about her marriage troubles as if it were all just an old nightmare. Sakura found herself smiling more in his presence... it felt good and simply perfect.

Lee was an interesting fellow. Here she was, now good friends with the oddest man in Konoha, the man she first felt repulsed by when he introduced himself to her those many years ago. Now his oddities were almost endearing and part of what made Lee uniquely  _Lee -_  green jumpsuit, bowl cut, eyebrows, and all. On top of that, the two of them were so closely alike it was almost spooky. Sharing the same struggles and insecurities as they grew up made Sakura appreciate Lee and who he was all the more. Similarly she felt Lee looked at her a bit differently now for the same reasons. It made her feel good to have a bond with someone she could truly understand. She never had that with anyone else before, not even Ino. She wondered if this is what Naruto and Sasuke first felt for each other all those years ago as genin, that started that unbreakable eternal friendship that they held now.

Perhaps she ought to do her best to hold on to this blossoming friendship that she had with Lee. If she did nothing after she completed training Lee would they just go back to only seeing each other on the streets? The thought upset Sakura more than she thought it would.

When Lee and Sakura had gotten to the point where they normally split off Sakura stopped and faced Lee. Lee looked down at her and tilted his head slightly. Sakura looked up at him and stared at his dark eyes for a moment, shifting in place.

"What is it, Sakura?" Lee asked gently. Lee was too good at reading her.

Sakura bit her lip, looking at her feet. "Lee, I... I just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed the time we spent together and I consider you a good friend." She then looked back up at him, her eyes soft and vulnerable. She hoped that he would not see her as silly for saying such a thing.

Lee's eyebrows raised. "I consider you a good friend too," he grinned warmly in return.

Sakura smiled back, reassured. "So I was wondering if you wanted to see each other outside of training and the hospital - as friends - rather than student-teacher and patient-doctor."

Lee blinked. "O-Of course I would! I would be honored!" he stammered.

Sakura laughed, her eyes lighting up in relief. "Perfect! Tomorrow would you like to take a break from training and instead go out and grab dinner to celebrate your first genjutsu dispel?"

Heat rose to Lee's cheeks. "I would love to!"

"Great, I haven't been out in forever," Sakura said, smiling more to herself than anyone else at that moment. "Want to meet me at my house at five? Since you now know where that is after you accidentally followed me home that one evening."

"Yes, that I can do," Lee said sheepishly.

"Alright, I'll see you then, Lee, okay?" Sakura's smile widened as she shifted her weight, ready to depart home.

A gawky, dopey grin spread across Lee's face before he could help it. "Yes, I will see you tomorrow!"

With that the two of them split ways. When Sakura glanced back there was a noticeable spring in Lee's step.

 _He looks very happy,_  Sakura chuckled to herself. Watching the sudden, colorful changes of Lee's expressions was amusing. Catching Lee off-guard or flustered was one of her favorite of his expressions. Even if Lee attempted to disguise it he still could not hide his very expressive eyebrows.

Sakura found herself walking home with a smile plastered on her face. When was the last time she did that?

She could not deny that she was perhaps too excited to go out and eat with Lee. It had been forever after all, and Lee... In the past weeks Lee had been a fresh breath of relief in her busy and melancholy day - from his infectious optimism to his inspiring determination. It was addicting, Sakura could not help but think. When Lee smiled Sakura felt the edges of her mouth tug into a smile as well.

When Sakura opened her front door she almost ran into Sasuke. Sakura immediately recoiled, shocked. "O-Oh! Sasuke! You're back! Sorry, I almost bumped into you!"

Sasuke looked down on her, a frown on his face. He nodded. "I was just leaving, if you could excuse me."

Sakura immediately stepped aside. "Are you leaving the village already?" Sakura could not hide the disappointment in her voice.

Sasuke stopped beside her. "No, I plan to visit the Uchiha memorial to pay my respects."

"M-May, I come with?" Sakura's cheeks reddened in embarrassment, hoping she did not cross a line by asking.

Sasuke studied her quietly, as though thinking. "If you want."

Sakura nervously smiled and then bowed. "Thank you."

Sasuke smirked, maybe amused by her gratitude. "Let's go."

Sakura followed Sasuke as he lead the way.

The memorial was located where the old Uchiha compound approximately was before Pein destroyed Konoha. A slab of smooth marble towered over them, with the Uchiha symbol carved into it and below the names of all those murdered that fateful night in the compound. Included at the bottom was Itachi's name.

Sasuke and Sakura stopped a few feet in front of it. Sakura bowed her head respectfully as Sasuke stood silently beside her. She stole a glance at him and saw his eyes flash with grief. He then took a few more steps towards the memorial, close enough to trace his brother's name, and then what Sakura presumed to be his parents, with his fingertips.

 _Sasuke..._ Sakura thought, y _ou've been through so much pain, more than I could ever imagine..._

Sakura did not know that Itachi had massacred the Uchiha clan based around an unavoidable order until Naruto had publicly made a statement about it and erected the monument. She assumed Sasuke did not know it either until after it was too late, after he had killed his brother. To imagine killing his own brother who in the end had actually saved him brought a tightness to Sakura's chest.

Sasuke pulled his hand away and rummaged in his pack, pulling out a stick of incense. He lit it with a small huff of fire chakra then gingerly placed it beside the memorial. He then backed up until he was beside Sakura once more. Sasuke bowed his head, held his remaining hand up to his chest, and prayed. Sakura joined him, praying that the spirits of the Uchiha had found peace in the afterlife.

Sasuke's hand dropped to his side and his head rose when he was done. Sakura hesitantly reached for his hand and laced her fingers with his. He allowed it. She squeezed his hand, hoping that such a small gesture of support would help somehow. Sasuke continued to stare straight ahead at the memorial, silent.

"Sasuke..." Sakura said softly. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah. They're at peace now, free from this harsh world, but they died needlessly." An edge formed in Sasuke's voice. "My brother, especially. He was cruelly chosen to slay his entire clan by Konoha and then exiled. Ignorant of Konoha's dirty secret until it was too late, I killed my dear brother."

Sakura leaned her head against his shoulder. "I can't imagine what that feels like. But at least Konoha has made amends. Naruto publicized the massacre as Konoha's heinous mistake as a lesson to be learned for future generations."

Sasuke's jaw tightened. "Is that enough? A mistake to learn for only one village while something like it happens in other villages?" he shot back, venom in his voice.

Sakura flinched, releasing her grip on his hand. "I... I don't know," she admitted, her voice meek. "Perhaps not. But if anyone could fix the state of the world it's Naruto."

Sasuke scoffed. "He prefers to play Hokage, blind that the Kages and the shinobi system is part of the problem."

"I don't understand..."

_Is Sasuke upset with Naruto?_

"You don't understand because you grew comfortably in the system. The system is all you know like everyone else in this damn world," he glared.

Sakura pulled away from Sasuke and faced him. "Then... then explain to me so I can learn!"

Sasuke's glare faded as he stared at her for a moment. A familiar condensing smirk graced his lips. "Hmph, you are annoying."

"Please Sasuke," she begged. "All I ever wanted to do was to help you. I could do nothing to save you from the darkness. Naruto did everything while I sat on the sidelines and cried, useless. Now all I want is a chance to redeem myself for my weakness. Let me  _help_  you. But I cannot do that unless you explain."

Sasuke's eyes then softened, looking at her with now with perhaps pity. "Perhaps another time. I'll think on what you said."

But..." Sakura boiled with frustration. Why could he never give her a straight answer? Was she always supposed to play this game with him, fighting for insight into his thoughts? Why could Sakura so freely share thoughts with Lee back and forth, a friend, compared to her  _husband_  where she was always in the dark?

 _Why can't Sasuke be like Lee?_ she caught herself thinking.

"Another time," Sasuke repeated, "because I must go and attend to business. Goodbye, Sakura." He closed the distance between them and gave her a chaste peck on the lips.

Sakura's face reddened in surprise, her frustration immediately subsided. "G-Goodbye, Sasuke," she breathed as her heart fluttered.

Sasuke smirked once more and then turned around, darted up the nearest building and vanished. Sakura stood there a few moments more, staring longingly up where he disappeared.

* * *

 

When Sakura made it home it was dark. She fixed herself a light meal, showered, and crawled into bed. Her thoughts drifted to Sasuke and immediately she was filled with frustration at both him and herself.

 _Look at me, a married woman acting like a blushing schoolgirl as soon as he gives me affection,_  Sakura thought, burying her face in her pillow.  _I was supposed to stand up to him to get him to share what's on his mind but I turned immediately compliant as soon as he kissed me. What's wrong with me?_  She sighed. I'll _never be able to get Sasuke to open up to me if I keep on acting so passively around him. I need to be more like Naruto._

_Naruto..._

Sasuke seemed to be upset at Naruto, perhaps about the shinobi system that he mentioned.

 _What's wrong with the shinobi system?_  Sakura wondered.

Yes, bad things have happened under it but it was infinitely better than the constant bloodshed that occurred before the hidden village system was put into place. It was the best system they have had so far. Good things have happened under it too. Sakura still remembers the smiles on the faces of the poor people of that village in the Land of Water after Team 7 had freed them from Zabuza's terror. There had been many other countless missions where she had left smiling faces behind her.

But...

Many of her formidable opponents in these missions had been shinobi that had been hurt by the system who were angry and bitter. The Hidden Villages had all done something terrible in their pasts. Konoha was responsible for the massacre of the Uchiha. Kirigakure used to be known as the Village of the Bloody Mist for a reason - Academy students were forced to fight to the death to graduate. The other villages each had their own shameful and gruesome history.

_Is that what Sasuke meant?_

Certainly the good outshined the bad, Sakura assumed. Especially nowadays. The villages were currently not run by gruesome Kages like in the past, Naruto being a primary example of that. The shinobi world came together as allies to fight off Madara from destroying everything about this world. That had to mean something, right?

...But is she wrong? Is she too leniently excusing the mistakes of the past? Is that what Sasuke meant about her ignorance?

If Sasuke is upset at the current system has he been trying to work with Naruto to change things? Is Naruto unwilling to budge?

She had so many questions she wanted to ask but she knew Sasuke would not patiently explain things to her. Perhaps she should approach Naruto?

Sakura felt self-satisfaction warm her chest.  _Yes, that is what I'll do,_  Sakura thought. _I'll find time to ask Naruto about it. He'll be more open about it with me._

Sakura drifted off to sleep easily than she had ever before in her bed.


	14. In the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura approaches Naruto for answers.

Sakura looked up at the Hokage's official office building as it loomed over her. She wanted to know why Sasuke was acting strange the evening before - to understand what was troubling him - and if he refused to share that with her she would have to go to the only one that would know - Naruto. The guard-nin did not trouble her from their hiding spots as she entered the building.

The receptionist behind the desk greeted her with a smile. "Hello, Mrs. Uchiha! Do you have an appointment with the Hokage?"

Sakura stood stiffly. "No I don't, but it's important."

The receptionist clucked her tongue in disappointment. "That's too bad. The Hokage is busy at the moment. Would you like to set an appointment for a later date?"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "No, I wouldn't."

"Then I'm sorry, Mrs. Uchiha, but then you cannot see the Hokage."

Sakura's jaw clenched. "My husband seems to have little issue with visiting him whenever he likes. As a fellow member of Team 7 then that right will extend to me."

"But-"

"If you disagree you're welcome to try and stop me," Sakura huffed as she walked through the doorway that led to Naruto's office. The receptionist wisely left her be.

Sakura climbed the familiar circular stairs before arriving at the office door. She remembered visiting this building often as Tsunade's apprentice but it had been awhile since she had last been there. Sakura then took in a deep breath, readying her courage.

_You can do this, Sakura. Don't relent._

Before she opened the door she heard angry voices rising from behind the door. One was distinctly Naruto's, and the other she determined to be Shikamaru.

"Naruto, something else is going on that he's not telling us!" Shikamaru protested.

"Enough, Shikamaru!" Naruto silenced.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat.  _Are they talking about Sasuke?_

Without a second thought Sakura barged into the room. Naruto was sitting behind his desk and Shikamaru stood before him. The two of them turned their heads to her, eyes widened in shock at the sudden interruption.

"Sakura...?" Naruto said, confused.

"Who were you two just talking about right now?" Sakura questioned, her eyes fierce. "Is it Sasuke?"

Shikamaru spoke up first. "That is between the Hokage and his advisor."

"If it's about Sasuke, as his wife, I deserve to know too," Sakura argued. She then looked to Naruto expectantly.

Naruto hesitated, glancing away from Sakura's piercing gaze. "Shikamaru, if you could excuse us for a moment."

Shikamaru sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "How troublesome." With that he strolled out of the room and shut the door behind him.

Sakura and Naruto were now alone.

"...So?" Sakura spoke up first.

"It's as Shikamaru said. I can't tell you that, Sakura," Naruto replied with steely eyes. "But, past that, it's nice to see that you've actually come to visit me!" A sudden grin spread across Naruto's face. "Sounds like you're concerned for Sasuke though, huh? Is something the matter with him other than the usual?"

Sakura shifted on her feet, embarrassed. Perhaps she should not have jumped immediately to thinking the person they were talking about was Sasuke like some crazy person. "Yeah, and I was hoping as his best friend that you could help me."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Sasuke was acting strangely the other night. Did the two of you fight recently over something?" Sakura asked, regaining her determination.

"Don't we always fight? It's kinda hard to remember one fight from the other," Naruto chuckled, but Sakura sensed a strain in his voice.

"Yeah, but over the shinobi system?" Sakura implored.

Naruto's eyes widened momentarily. Naruto knew what she was talking about. "I... I dunno, Sakura! Maybe! I remember arguing over something dumb like that, yeah. Don't remember the details exactly. Didn't seem like that big of a deal to me."

_He's lying._

Sakura sighed. "Do you remember  _anything_  about what he said? He was talking about it the other day but wouldn't explain anything to me. I thought... maybe if I could understand what was troubling him so much that I could help him out for once."

Naruto's blue eyes looked intently at her for a moment, in thought. "Even with him back on our side, some of his opinions haven't changed. He wants me to make big changes with my position and then gets angry when I won't budge." Naruto chuckled. "He's just idealistic like me and our different ideas cause us to butt heads. Plus he's an arrogant bastard, so he thinks he understands what I can or can't do as Hokage when he doesn't. Pretty much he's been going on about changing the whole shinobi system to prevent future abuses like in the past. It's as simple as that."

At least Sakura got that right, that Sasuke was upset about things that had happened in the past. "But... how do I  _help_  him?" Sakura's voice trembled slightly. "I honestly don't know. I feel so incompetent. How do I make him feel better about the things he can't change?"

Naruto stood up from his desk and walked over to Sakura, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder. "Hey! Sakura! It's okay, don't worry. Just be yourself, and Sasuke should be happy with that, right? Just use some of that Sakura charm that got him to marry you. I'm sure he'd like that."

 _'Sakura charm,' sure,_ she bitterly thought. The only thing Sasuke is remotely interested in is being outside of this village and Naruto.

"That's not going to change now he feels."

"No one can change that, Sakura. Sometimes you just have to be there to support the people you love even if you can't change how they feel. They can at least appreciate that."

"What if Sasuke won't let me help him?"

"Ha, we already know what that's like. You remember how hard it was to help Sasuke come back to the village. It takes an arm and a leg to get through to him sometimes. Hell, I  _did_  give up my old arm for that. But even if he sometimes doesn't appreciate it I'm still a big believer that you should still give your full support to them until they finally feel ready to accept it."

Sakura nodded glumly. So according to Naruto it would be nearly impossible to reach Sasuke. "What is Sasuke doing on these long missions? It seems like he doesn't want to stay around the village or he has something very important to him outside of it. And... I don't know. I've been wanting to know for the longest time but he's never been straight with me. Ever since we've gotten married he's been constantly gone and... and I miss him. Maybe if he's home more I could support him more."

Naruto's hand dropped from her shoulder. "I can't say, Sakura. It's classified. I'm sorry."

"Could you at least... maybe assign him on shorter missions every once awhile?" Sakura pleaded. "For me?"

"...I'll try," Naruto said, but Sakura could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

Sakura slowly nodded, knowing that he would not promise her that. "...Thank you," she still said. "I'm sorry for interrupting you. I'll leave now."

"Hey, you didn't bother me at all," Naruto assured. "Feel free to drop by anytime, Sakura."

Sakura gave a tight smile and left the room, roughly shutting door behind her. Not even Naruto was willing to fully share things about Sasuke, the one person she thought that would be open with her. She would remain in the dark. Forever maybe. Naruto has always had the strength and mental fortitude to always hold a torch for someone, no matter how unwilling. Sakura was not as strong.

When she paced around the corner before descending the stairs a hand grabbed her arm, halting her.

"Sakura," Shikamaru greeted, releasing her arm.

"What do you want, Shikamaru?" Sakura asked, impatient to leave so she could be alone.

"Knowing Naruto he didn't tell you anything of substance, am I right?" Shikamaru said, sounding irritated as usual.

Sakura flinched.

Shikamaru nodded. "Thought so. Look, I can tell you're suffering by being in the dark. I think it's important to reach out to some people to prevent resentment and thus prevent them from doing something dumb later on because of their feelings. I don't need more work to deal with."

"What are you saying?" Sakura said, guarded.

"I'm saying that, yes, we were talking about your husband before you barged in and I'd like ask you something about him."

Sakura's eyes lit up at the small scrap of information Shikamaru rewarded her. "Yes?"

Shikamaru glanced back and forth down the hallway, making sure that no one was near. "Has Sasuke said anything about his missions when he returns?"

"No, not at all. That's part of the reason I came to see Naruto. The only thing I know is that its 'for the benefit of Konoha'; nothing else."

"Figures. Anything else you've observed that stands out?"

"Sometimes he comes home injured and I heal him, but that's it. Injuries are to be expected for shinobi, but I'm curious as to what has been able to harm someone so impossibly strong," Sakura responded. "Why are you even asking me these questions?"

"Because something isn't matching up," Shikamaru said, hushed. "He's been acting odd about these trivial missions he insists to be assigned on and Naruto refuses to see a problem with that. Look, Sakura. Since you and Naruto see him the most I want you to keep an eye out on him for anything suspicious."

"Suspicious?" Sakura said, alarmed. "Are you implying Sasuke is going to betray Konoha again?"

"No. I just know that Sasuke has a rebellious streak in him so he might do something arrogant while operating under Konoha's name. While people in Konoha tolerate him not many other villages are willing to do the same. They'd be itching for an excuse to ignore Kakashi's pardon. This is supposed to be a time of peace so I don't want to have to deal with juggling straining relations between villages," Shikamaru sighed. "As his wife, I'm sure you wouldn't want him to do something stupid. Sometimes wives need to prevent their husbands from being idiots. So let me know if you see anything and I'll keep you somewhat in the loop."

Sakura's eyes softened, full of gratitude. "Thank you, Shikamaru. I will."

"Cool. See you around then." Shikamaru then strolled off, leaving her be.

* * *

 

As Sakura sorted through her clothing, picking what she would wear for dinner with Lee, she thought back to what both Naruto and Shikamaru told her. While they did not tell her everything she wanted to know she was able to identify snippets of information after analyzing their words once she calmed her distracting emotions. From what Shikamaru told her, Sasuke seemed to be the one calling the shots on what missions he goes on, not Naruto. That is very atypical for a Hokage. Is Naruto being a pushover to Sasuke perhaps? But why would Naruto let Sasuke do that? From what Sakura knew of Naruto, he lets no one bully him. Especially not Sasuke. What would cause Naruto to bend for Sasuke?

Shikamaru also implied that Sasuke was doing something odd on these missions. Perhaps he has been taking way too long to accomplish them for a shinobi of his caliber? That might be why every mission he's been consistently gone for long periods of time. Shikamaru thought that Sasuke would not defect again, but implied he might be pursing his own goals. These goals being...

 _Changing the shinobi system?_ Sakura guessed. That was the only clue Sasuke had ever given her.  _But how?_

He was just one man. One powerful man, yes. But just one man with no clan influence nor political title. The only influence he would have would be through his strength or through his powerful connections - like Naruto. Naruto was unwilling to help him, so does that mean he will accomplish his goals solely through his own strength? Sasuke was never charismatic and the shinobi world at large still despises him despite his contributions to the war. So it seemed to Sakura that Sasuke could only accomplish this through force.

But...

Sakura was sure Sasuke did not want to cause more suffering than what had already happened during the war. He came back to Konoha because he saw what he did wrong and wanted to repent for it. Naruto had saved him from the darkness after all.

So, what was Sasuke doing? Or, is he even doing  _anything_  at all? Maybe it's just a case of wanderlust. Before he came back to the village he was as free as a bird in the open sky. Back in Konoha he is a caged bird needing permission to leave his own home. Since the Hidden Villages operate under a militaristic society no one is permitted to leave unless assigned on a mission. If shinobi could just come and go as they please defecting would be easier and enemy-nin could steal village secrets even easier. It was a safety precaution. Sakura did not mind personally, and she assumed many of her peers did not either. They are given their chance to explore the world through their missions, and this system is what she had always been used to. She imagined Sasuke, after being free to do what he liked for so many years, could have difficulty adjusting back to this system.

Yes, perhaps that was simply it. After all, one time he did cryptically tell her that 'there were many parts of the shinobi world he hadn't seen' when she had asked where he was going. Perhaps being nothing but a stranger was appealing to him rather than staying around a village that barely tolerates his existence.

 _Then, why bother with marrying me in the first place?_  Sakura wondered, her chest tightening.

He implied that marrying her was a first step to reintegrate into Konoha society, but is that really what he wanted if he was not making an effort to even stay around Konoha? He did not even want to use her to rebuild his clan, as he told her that his goals had changed. What was even the point of humoring her with those rare, placating kisses he gave her? His own amusement? To keep her from making things more difficult for him by protesting against his conscious isolation of her?

Feelings of dejection and anger swirled inside of her. If Sasuke was not even trying in their relationship, why should  _she_  even be trying? She was  _struggling,_ doing her best to understand Sasuke even if he did not want to help her. She had been asking questions and investigating solely because she wanted to become a better wife to him, but all he did - and everyone else - was push back. She could not take it anymore. What was the point if all she constantly did was fight to gain ground? She no longer wanted to be exhausted by all this fighting. She would prefer if this issue was a physical enemy she could fight rather than an internal one. At least punches were easier to land and the fight was much more straightforward.

 _Sasuke, I'm not going to let you shut me up with affection any longer,_  Sakura thought to herself, a fire burning inside of her.  _I'm not going to sit in silence while you continue to ignore me._


	15. His Antithesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee and Sakura have dinner together.

Sakura decided upon a casual-looking summer floral dress. It would be nice to wear some of her civilian clothes for once that did nothing but collect dust in her closet. She always either had to wear her work or kunoichi clothes so she never got the chance to wear something else from time to time.

She was excited to hang out with Lee for the first time outside of training or the hospital. She could forget her troubles with Sasuke for a time and enjoy the company of her infectiously optimistic friend, which was something she had needed in her life for quite some time, especially with Naruto busy with Hokage work. Would it be awkward hanging out with Lee without a business-like goal like training, a mission, or injury treatment? She did not know. She hoped not. What she had to do now was to shove her thoughts on Sasuke to the back of her mind so it would not interfere with her time with Lee despite how much she wanted to ponder and hypothesize. It made her antsy.

Not a second past five there was a knock at her door. As expected, when Sakura opened the door, she was greeted by Lee himself at her doorstep. He was wearing a looser-fitting traditional shirt in his signature color: green. It was an odd sight to see him wearing something not his jumpsuit - or even anything not skintight.

Lee greeted her with a large smile; his eyes immediately lit up upon meeting hers. "Good evening, Sakura!"

"Good evening, Lee. You're very timely," Sakura said with a welcoming smile, her shoulders immediately relaxing.

"Of course! Guy-sensei taught me that timeliness is a very important virtue! If I was not on time for our training sessions I had to walk around Konoha on my hands backwards."

Sakura recalled occasionally seeing Lee around Konoha doing exactly that during their genin days and simply giving him an odd look as he passed by. "Well, I'm not Guy-sensei so I wouldn't make you do anything crazy like that."

"I would not mind! Being late meant an additional opportunity to train!" Lee insisted. "If I were late to our genjutsu training sessions I would be deserving of some form of extra-hard training to make up for it!"

"Quite the masochist, aren't you?"

Lee blinked in confusion.

"Never mind that," Sakura excused herself before she would have to explain. "Enough talk about training! Let's grab a bite to eat."

Lee's expression turned back to a large grin. "Of course!"

Sakura stepped out of her home and locked the door behind her. She took the lead heading towards downtown Konoha, Lee following loyally beside her. "So, where would you like to eat?"

"I have just the thing!" Lee exclaimed excitedly before he began digging into his pocket. "I was not sure if we would have issues selecting a place, so I came up with a list of ten possible places to make sure we could find something that you enjoy!" He produced a crumpled up piece of paper and began to unravel it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Before he could begin to read it Sakura placed one of her hands on top of the note. Lee looked up at her, puzzled. "This is about  _your_  success on the genjutsu dispel. Pick your favorite place and I'll find something on the menu I like."

"But-"

"I insist," Sakura interrupted before he could come up with a long-winded reason as to why he insisted they go to a place  _she_  would like. Sakura understood with over-polite types you had to sometimes be forceful to make sure they did not neglect their own desires to please others.

"Well..." Lee hesitated, putting the crumpled note away. "I have something in mind."

"Great!" Sakura smiled, pleased that he did not make it more difficult than it had to be.

Lee brought them to a small, discrete restaurant with a tacky sign that read 'Leaf's Curry House: Home of the _hottest_  curry!'

Sakura's stomach sunk.  _Oh no. I hate spicy food._  But she told herself she would not complain. She told Lee to pick the restaurant after all.  _Surely they have things other than curry on their menu,_ she assured herself.

The waitress set them at a small table, setting menus down before leaving.

"So..." Sakura said as she picked up her menu. Lee smiled widely at her from across the table. "You like curry, huh?"

Lee nodded vigorously. "Curry is my favorite food. The hotter the better!"

Sakura scanned the menu choices. Curry, curry, and more curry. "Er, is all they serve here is curry?"

"Yep! It wouldn't be a proper curry house otherwise, I would think," Lee said.

"I see," Sakura replied. "Um, so Lee, what's your favorite menu item? I've never been here before."

"My favorite is the Flaming Hellfire Curry. I  _highly_  recommend it for first timers!"

Sakura sweated. "Er, I don't do so well with spicy things. What's the... mildest thing I can get?"

"Hmm..." Lee scanned the menu, eyebrows slightly furrowed. "I would say the Standard Curry. All the other ones are incrementally hotter."

 _Great, and how hot is the Standard Curry?_  Sakura worried, but she kept her mouth shut.

When the waitress returned they placed their orders. The waitress chatted with Lee for a bit and welcomed him warmly. Seemed like Lee came here often. Sakura glanced up at Lee after the waitress left. When they locked eyes he gave her a wide, heartwarming smile. Sakura smiled back, albeit more timidly.

"Sakura, do you plan on being a part of the war memorial parade during the upcoming festival?" Lee asked earnestly, leaning a bit forward in his seat.

"Um, I'm not sure yet," Sakura responded, pondering to herself. "I've always been more interested in watching parades than being a part of them. They're harder to appreciate when you're in the middle of it yourself, I think."

"But you are a hero!" Lee insisted, his large eyebrows pinching together, which comically exaggerated how upset he was at her indecision. Sakura was starting to grow fond of that quirk of his. It was no difficult matter to guess his mood if she just watched his brows.

"As are you," Sakura giggled. "Just about every shinobi was a part of that war. If the whole village joined in on the parade, not as many would be able to appreciate it."

"But you are  _Sakura Har_ -" Lee cleared his throat, and continued, "You are  _Sakura_. Second generation of the legendary sannin. You were instrumental in the war. Everyday people love seeing big heroes like yourself. It gives them hope for the future. If you take part in the parade I am sure we can march together as part of the Third Division if you are worried about being bored or not being around friends." He then flashed an inviting grin.

"Let me think on it," Sakura said, the corners of her lips lifting slightly. She did like the idea of spending it with Lee but that was a thought for another time.

"Okay!" Lee said enthusiastically, her noncommittal answer not swaying him in the slightest.

Sakura suddenly gasped. "I just realized today is Sunday! I'm not... getting in the way of training with your team, am I?"

Lee shook his head. "Not at all! Guy-sensei was very understanding as to why I had to leave training early. I will make up my lost time by running 400 laps around Konoha tomorrow morning!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. How could he always have so much energy and enthusiasm? "You're not going to wear yourself out too much before our training, right?"

"N-Not at all!" Lee insisted. "Sakura, I assure you that I will not compromise our training! I will be sure to take it easy."

Sakura laughed. "Take it easy? You? Impossible."

"Sakura, I am hurt that you do not trust me," Lee said with mock despair, made obvious by a coy smile.

"In other matters, yes. In this matter, not at all," Sakura jested.

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their curry, held by the chef himself. "Lee! The man with the iron stomach! Miku told me that you were here so I came to say hello." The chef placed the plates down in front of the two shinobi. He then raised a curious eyebrow at Sakura with a grin. "And who might this fine lady be? Wait, could it be? Lady Tsunade's successor? Sakura... Haruno! Welcome to my quaint curry shop!" The chef bowed his head for a moment in respect.

Sakura sheepishly laughed, waving off his formality. "Thank you!"

The chef then looked back at Lee, who was sipping his tea contently. "Quite the catch you managed, eh?" he winked. "How'd you manage to charm someone big like this into a date?"

Lee suddenly choked on his tea, his face bright red. He set the tea down and descended into coughing fit. "We-" Cough. "This-" Cough, cough. "Not-" Cough.

The chef didn't wait for Lee to finish, instead he let out a hearty laugh, patted Lee sturdily on the back, and walked off.

Sakura sat stunned for a moment, heat rising to her face.  _A date?! Does it look like we're on a date?_ she thought.

Lee finally composed himself from his coughing fit, thumping his chest to clear it all out. The two made eye contact. Lee fidgeted in his seat, trying his best to hide his bashfulness with a polite smile. Sakura mirrored him. What was this fluttering in her stomach?

Sakura finally decided to speak up and said, "So, how about that curry, huh?" She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and dug in.

Lee nodded, following her lead to drop the embarrassing subject.

As soon as the curry hit her tongue her taste buds cried out from the heat. With tears in her eyes she forced herself to swallow before immediately chugging her tea to soothe her burning throat. She looked up to see Lee contently eating his curry with not so much as a wince from the incredible spiciness. Sakura stared at him in disbelief.

 _How is he human?_  Sakura thought to herself while picking at her food.

While they ate, Lee gulped down his food with the vigor of a starved man. Sakura on the other hand picked delicately at her curry, consciously taking chunks of rice on the sides of her plate that were covered in minimal curry. Even so, she still grimaced at the heat on her tongue. Spicy food just never agreed with her.

They chatted casually about things, keeping a friendly attitude. Sakura was not sure if Lee felt the same, but she could feel a bit of tension in the air after the chef's comment. They were sitting a bit stiffer than usual, eye contact wavering here and there. Was it  _romantic_  tension, perhaps? Could she really blame the chef for getting the wrong idea? The two of them were dressed nicer, dining alone together. Even outside of this curry shop they spent just about every day together. Anyone could get the wrong idea.

While Lee chatted excitedly away about a new taijutsu move he wanted to show her, Sakura's mind pondered the what-if's. What if this  _was_  a date? What if she  _was_  dating Lee? She imagined he would be the corny type. Super affectionate, flowers, declarations of love; the whole nine yards. Sakura blushed toying with the idea of what it would be like. There was a time in her youth that she would have been horrified at the thought, but now, not so much. Through getting to know Lee the things that used to dislike about him have become oddly charming.

"-and that's how you... Sakura, are you okay?" Lee tilted his head curiously, his silky black hair shifting across his forehead. His warm eyes look intently into her own, hinting at concern, his expressive eyebrows raised.

Sakura blinked, looking at Lee. He offered her a soft, encouraging smile. "I-Yes, I'm perfectly alright," she insisted. "I was just thinking."

Lee's smile widened, eager. "Oh? What were you thinking about?"

"I...er..." Sakura stumbled on her words, before chuckling. "Nothing that you need to know, Lee," she teased.

Sakura could see his curiosity peak, his eyebrows raised inquisitively. But they soon lowered, as did his smile to a mock frown of indignation. "Okay, Sakura. It would be rude of me to pry. You may have your secrets."

Sakura giggled. It was certainly a secret best kept to herself.

She looked down at their plates. Lee's was empty while hers almost looked untouched. Lee's gaze followed hers, causing him to speak up. "Was the curry not to your liking?"

"Oh, I'm fine, I'm just not as hungry as I thought is all," Sakura said, waving off the comment.

Lee nodded, not looking entirely convinced. After paying and leaving the restaurant, Sakura's stomach grumbled loudly. She folded her arms across her stomach, mentally cursing it, and glanced at Lee, embarrassed. "Okay, maybe I lied. The curry was just a bit too hot for me. I'm actually not a big fan of spicy things."

Lee looked horrified. "Sakura, my sincerest apologies! If I knew that you did not like spicy food I would have not brought you to this place! You need not lie for my sake!"

"It's fine! I assure you! This is supposed to be a celebration for you, not me," Sakura said firmly.

Lee was not satisfied with that answer. "But we cannot go on until you hunger is sated! What type of food do you prefer?" Lee looked at her intensely, his thick eyebrows low on his brow to show he was very serious. He was not going to back down.

"Well... I like sweet things, like dango," Sakura suggested.

"Then we shall find a dango stall!" Lee declared. "Come, Sakura! I know of one! We can make it before they close for the evening!"

Lee grabbed Sakura by the arm and began marching off downtown, determined. Sakura stumbled a bit, not quite expecting to be dragged along, but once she regained her footing after a step she giggled as Lee led her.

"Ah! There it is!" Lee exclaimed, shielding his eyes from the setting sun while looking ahead.

Sakura squinted. It was a dango stall she did not recognize, with a cute bear mascot on the welcome sign. "Is that place new? I don't think I've seen it before."

"It has been here for a few weeks," Lee said, nodding his head. "They have a signature dango you must try, Sakura! It is very popular."

"You have my attention," Sakura chuckled.

Lee smiled widely in response.

There were only a few people lingering around the stall since the dinner rush was over. The stall owner was an older woman with her back turned, working on the dough. The two of them sat on available stools in front of the stall. Sakura and Lee's shoulders were left brushing lightly against each other; the seating arrangement was made dense to fit as many potential customers as possible.

Lee grabbed the attention of the stall owner and asked for two orders of their signature dango. The stall owner prepared the food in the back for a few minutes before returning to them two plates with three skewers each. Sakura gasped when she saw the dango. Each ball of dango was decorated to look like cute bears with round eyes and small, round ears. They were coated heavily in a thick, brown syrup.

"Lee, I don't think I've ever seen something edible that is so  _cute_. I'm not sure if I can even eat them now," Sakura gushed, picking up a skewer to admire them.

Lee grinned widely, very pleased with her reaction, as he handed money to the stall keeper. Before Sakura could protest he said, "Please, Sakura, I insist. This is both a thank you for training me so diligently as well as putting up with the curry."

Sakura laughed. "Alright, you win," she said, taking a delicate bite of the dango. Her face lit up with the sweet flavor. "Wow, this is _so_  good!"

"I am both relieved and happy that you like it!" Lee said as he took a bite of his own dango.

"I am surprised you have room for dango after all that curry you ate, though, who am I kidding," she snickered, playfully nudging his shoulder with her own. "Men's stomachs are bottomless, without exception."

Lee blinked at the small sign of physical affection before recovering, smiling bigger. "I cannot refute that. I am, after all, a prime example of a man! Youthful! Hot-blooded! Handsome! Strong! A large stomach is needed to give me enough energy to be able to be all of these things at once!" Lee shook his fist passionately during his speech before turning to Sakura and giving her a thumbs up and a sparking, confident grin.

Sakura stared at him for a moment, giving him an odd look, before bursting out laughing, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"S-Sakura! What is so funny?" Lee asked, alarmed and confused.

Sakura calmed herself down and wiped the tears from her eyes before answering. "You. How does someone as ridiculous but endearing as you even exist?"

A redness crept up Lee's face. The smile returned, but it was sheepish. His eyes drifted shyly down to his lap before returning to Sakura. "You... like how I am?" he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Mmhmm," Sakura nodded, smiling warmly at him. "You're not like the other shinobi. You embrace your eccentricities wholeheartedly with unrivaled genuineness. And... you're sweet, just like this dango," she said lightheartedly before taking another bite.

"It... it means a lot to hear that from you," Lee said before nervously chuckling, "Usually Tenten will just chastise me."

Sakura could shamefully admit that Tenten's behavior is not unlike how she used to treat Naruto when they were younger. It was from a time when she was judgmental and not as open to accepting others that were different. She liked to think that was different now thanks to the maturity she has gained with age. Lee had definitely been one lesson learned after their first Chunnin Exams that even the odd ones were worthy of respect. "Well, good thing you're here with me then," Sakura winked playfully.

Lee studied her a moment, his eyes soft. "Indeed, I am a very lucky man."

They were disturbed by the stall owner approaching them from her counter. "I'm closing for the night. You're welcome to sit and finish but I'm turning off the lights," she said plainly, looking between the two shinobi and the other remaining customers that were seated.

"Thank you," Sakura nodded in gratitude. "Have a nice evening!"

The stall owner smiled. "You too, young lady," she said before turning around to get ready for closing.

Sakura turned back to Lee. "Looks like we're still both eating through our dango, so I think we can sit and finish them here. I'm not too worried about the dark. Like the civilians like to say, we shinobi have night vision," she joked.

Lee chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Indeed! Even so, the-"

Suddenly, Lee lurched forward towards Sakura, his eyes wide, as his skewer of dango he was holding went into Sakura's hair and stuck there. Lee froze. Sakura froze. She stared at him in shock with a small gasp, processing what just happened. Lee's wide eyes darted from the dango to her face, his mouth agape, absolutely mortified. Next to Lee, a heavy set civilian had stood up from his seat and was leaving, muttering a quiet "sorry".

Lee suddenly remembered how to speak, his mouth running at a million miles per minute as his face turned red. "M-My s-sincerest apologies, Sakura! I did not mean to - it j-just - I-I was not being careful! Please forgive me! J-Just let me - I can fix this!" he stuttered, his voice weak, as his hands twitched near the half-eaten dango hanging from her hair, uncertain.

Sakura has half tempted to yell after the man who had carelessly shoved Lee but he was already long gone. She took a deep breath, calming herself, before she said, "Lee, it's okay! It wasn't your fault," she grimaced. Lee did not look convinced, his face still painted with guilt. "Don't worry, I can take care of it." She reached gave the dango skewer a tug, but she only winced as it tugged on her hair, barely budging.

Sakura looked at Lee seeing the same realization on his face as on hers, as though they wordlessly shared the same thought: 'oh no, it's stuck'.

Lee whipped around, his eyes locking on the stall owner who was just about ready to leave. "M-Ma'am! Before you go, could we please have water and napkins?"

The stall owner glanced back at the two of them, realizing what just happened. "My, my. Not again." After a few moments of digging she came back with a big cup of water and a large bunch of napkins and placed them on the counter. "I'm starting to think I need to change the syrup recipe," she sighed.

"T-Thank you!" Lee said gratefully.

The stall owner nodded before leaving, not before turning out the lights, leaving Lee and Sakura with just the dim street lights and decorative lanterns hung up from the nearby restaurants and shops to light their faces.

Lee dabbed a napkin in the water before he swiveled on his seat towards Sakura. He looked at her, hesitant, as though waiting for permission.

Sakura studied him for only a moment, deciding it was endearing to see how flustered and panicked he was in this situation. She let out a small giggle, smiling. "Go ahead," she said, bowing her head slightly to make it easier for him.

A flash of relief spread across Lee's face, perhaps thankful that he was allowed to right his mistake, or because her demeanor lightened. Lee leaned forward and brought his hands to her hair. He began to switch off between dabbing her hair stuck with syrup with the napkin and pulling strands off of the sticky dango.

Lee tugged too hard on a hair strand causing Sakura to wince and let out an "ow!"

Lee's hands recoiled immediately. "I am so sorry, Sakura! I did not mean to hurt you!"

"It's okay Lee," Sakura assured, trying to ease his guilt. "It's just this damn dango has _really_  tangled itself well in my hair."

"I'll be a bit more careful," Lee said, bringing his hands in once more. This time he went slower and more gently, conscious of every strand of hair. His brow was slightly wrinkled in concentration as he had his full attention on her hair. His face had finally relaxed as he seemed distracted from his guilt by the delicate task at hand.

Sakura watched him work for a moment, before realizing how close his face was to hers. He was about a foot away, as was needed to work on her hair in the dim light. He had scooted forward in his seat to get nearer, which left him closer in her personal space than she was used to. Yes, training did get them up close, but it just was not the same. This was more... intimate, especially with them being alone in the dim light. She suddenly became very aware of their breathing. Lee's chest rising and falling, slow and steady. Her breath caught in her throat for a moment, before she forced herself back to a normal breathing pattern.

"Thank you," she said. "This would have been a hassle to try and get it out myself. I would probably have to go home and suffer weird looks so I could do this properly in front of a mirror." Sakura let out a light laugh imaging how silly she looked.

Lee glanced at her for a moment before his gaze returned to her hair. An amused smile graced his lips. "I am more than happy to be of assistance." There was a pause as he thought, before he continued. "But, I am sincerely sorry that the food tonight has not been very cooperative with you. I accept the blame for picking these spots myself."

"Nonsense," Sakura said. "That isn't your fault at all. Plus, tonight is supposed to be about you and your success. As long as you're having a good time, that's what matters."

"I cannot say I am having a good time unless I know you are too."

Sakura giggled, feeling warmth spread to her cheeks. "Okay, yes, despite the food mishaps I have been having a good time."

Lee's eyes lit up as he glanced at her once again, and the smile on his face spread wide. "Good. Then I am having a good time. Despite the mishaps, of course."

 _He's cute,_  Sakura suddenly thought. His silky black hair framed his face nicely. His dark eyes were always so warm and open. And his smile, the brightest feature on his face, always seemed so genuine and inviting. Even his bold eyebrows, Sakura decided, worked well for his face. They were the key to his expressiveness, and they added a certain masculine quality to his face.

It felt strange to admit that. When Sakura first met him she was disgusted at his appearance. It was odd to think how that has changed. But, genin Sakura was narrow minded and only had one opinion of what was considered attractive - the features Sasuke had. Now, as a jonin, she liked to think she was more open minded. It did not trouble Sakura to admit she thought Lee was kind of cute. Being married did not mean she could not see handsomeness or beauty in others when she saw it. The important part was not to act on it, or let it become full-blown attraction.

Lee continued after a pause, interrupting Sakura from her thoughts. His voice lowered, now soft. "Sakura... I really do wish to express my deepest gratitude for teaching me how to dispel genjutsu. I would have never have come so far without your help. It means a lot to me that you have been willing to sacrifice large portions of your day just to teach me, especially with how long it has taken."

"It's my pleasure," Sakura responded, her voice low to match his. There was no need to talk loud with the small distance between them after all. "Training with you is my favorite part of the day. I always look forward to it. It's made me a happier person, I think."

Lee seemed to pause for a moment, considering her response. His shoulders then relaxed, and his features softened. "I am glad."

Sakura's eyes studied him, wondering what he was thinking at that moment. There was something so soft and gentle about his eyes that drew her in to them. "I really... hope it helps you on your goal to become a jonin. You certainly deserve the rank despite what limitations you have."

"Thank you, Sakura. I... hope so too. I want nothing more than to be able to prove myself, after all." Lee then glanced at her again. "If I may ask... do you also have a goal you are currently striving for?"

Sakura pondered this for moment. Right now she wanted to find out what Sasuke was up to. She wanted to fix her marriage. Those were private, personal goals; not ones she was willing to share. For ones that would better her as a person, as Lee's goal was, she wasn't sure. She found herself lost in the monotony of work at the hospital after everything had settled down after the war, living day by day. "I'm... I'm not sure yet," Sakura replied, a hint of melancholy and shame in her voice. "I need to find a new, concrete goal to strive towards. I'm always willing to better myself as a kunoichi, but I have not set myself any goals. Some kunoichi I am, huh?"

Lee paused his work on her hair to look at her directly now, his eyebrows low on his brow, his eyes serious. "You are the prime example of a kunoichi. I bet young girls at the Academy tell others they want to be just you when they become full-fledged shinobi, just like they used to say about Lady Tsunade. You do not need a definitive goal at all times in order to be great."

Sakura blushed, glancing away from his gaze shyly. She meant it partly as a self-deprecating joke, but the intense way Lee was looking at her threw her off. "Perhaps you're right, Lee. I have accomplished a lot as a shinobi. I need to stop being so unnecessarily critical of myself. Just give me some time to find a new goal. Once I find it, I will be sure to share it with you." Sakura's eyes returned to Lee's, now confident.

Lee's features softened, and he smiled warmly as he returned to her hair. His eyes suddenly brightened as he suddenly pulled off the dango skewer off her head. "Ah-ha!" It was covered in a few strands of pink hair.

Sakura gasped gleefully. "Oh my gosh, it's finally out! Thank you!" She patted down her head where the dango once was, but she pulled her hand away in disgust as syrup stuck to her hand, her giddy mood immediately dampened. "Ugh..."

Lee put the hairy dango down on his plate before turning towards her again, fingertips and napkin at her hair once more. "There is just a few crumbs of dango and syrup left. I can get it all out."

Sakura sighed. "Thank you, Lee. You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"It is not a problem!" Lee was now soaking the napkins in water in order to rinse the syrup out, careful not to let too much water drip on Sakura's lap.

Sakura suddenly laughed. "I'm happy that at least I'll look less weird with my hair half drenched than having a whole skewer of bear-shaped dango stuck to my head."

Lee laughed too. "I think you could have pulled it off as some sort of new fashion statement! Imagine... in a month's time other youthful girls walking around town with hair accessories that look like dango, bears, or both!"

Sakura laughed again. "I have  _no_  intention on starting any sort trend that way!"

Lee pulled back with one more swipe of the soaked napkin through her hair. "There! All done."

Sakura patted her hair again. It was wet, but no longer sticky. She let out a satisfied sigh. "Thank you... I think I'm done with dango for at least a month... okay, maybe more like a week. It is my favorite food after all."

Lee nodded sagely. "I understand. Even if curry was to wrong me, I would be back the next day."

Sakura glanced to the unfinished dango on her plate. She had eaten through most of it, but now she no longer hungered for it. "Lee, I'm not sure about you, but I've totally lost my appetite for dango."

Lee glanced at his plate. The only dango of his left was the one covered in pink hair. "That is quite alright! I think I have had plenty myself." He then straightened himself in his seat. "If you are done eating, perhaps you would like to go home?" His voice had a hint of hesitance, as though he did not want to say the words himself.

Sakura's heart seemed to sink a bit at the suggestion of them ending their evening together. Sakura bit her lip, looking at Lee. She felt a warmness while in his presence, one that she did not want to give up for the night just yet, and have to return to her quiet, lonely home. "Maybe... if you don't mind, we could wander around downtown for a bit? I don't think I'm ready to go home just yet."

Lee blinked, surprised, which turned to enthusiasm. "Oh! Of course! I would be more than happy to! More time in your presence is always welcome!"

Sakura grinned as she stood up from her seat, Lee following suit.

Sakura and Lee strolled downtown side by side, following the trail of decorative lights from late-opened restaurants and shops. Their conversations had taken a playful, lighthearted turn; causing their laughter to fill up the streets. Sakura meanwhile admired the colors of all the decorative lighting, creating an atmosphere all its own. She would walk home often through downtown after work when it was already dark, but her eyes were always at her feet. Now, it felt like she was seeing it properly for the first time... perhaps thanks to Lee.

"-and after that happened, well, you know the rest," Lee chuckled.

"Yes, I remember when I stumbled across you during our second Chunnin Exams," Sakura giggled. "You were stuck alone, hanging upside down in a trap, covered head-to-toe in smelly mud. I didn't recognize you until you called out to me."

"How grateful I was that you came by when you did and saved me! I would have been a goner!" Lee exclaimed dramatically. "And to top it off you were so kind to let me keep my scroll!"

"I was only returning the favor you did for me during our first Chunnin Exams," Sakura said, playfully nudging him.

Lee laughed.

Sakura's attention was suddenly drawn to a tree in front of a nondescript shop. The tree had a spiral of green lights up its trunk to its branches, with a large array of intricate ornaments, charms, and chimes, covered in words and symbols, hanging from it. The breeze caused them to sway and clink together.

Sakura stopped. "Why is that tree covered head-to-toe like that?"

Lee stopped beside her, glancing over at the tree. "That tree is an unofficial memorial to those lost during the war," Lee said, his voice losing the playful edge it carried just moments ago. "Many like hanging unique items that remind them of who they lost. It allows the lost to stand out a bit more to show others who that person was, rather than just blending in the list of names on the official memorial wall on the edge of town."

Sakura saw that there was a young girl with a chime in hand, stubbornly grasping at a branch she had no hope of reaching. "I'll be right back," Sakura said as she approached the girl. Now that Sakura was closer to the tree she could see each ornament had names, family symbols, and prayers across them. The girl's back was turned to Sakura. Sakura knelt so she was at eye-level with the girl. "Excuse me," she said sweetly, trying not to alarm the girl.

The girl whipped around and blinked, not expecting someone to have snuck up on her. "Yes?"

"It looks like you're having a hard time getting that chime on the tree. Do you me to help?" Sakura smiled.

The girl pouted, handing over the chime. "I'm not tall enough yet to reach the branch I want. I want that spot right there!" The girl pointed at a much higher branch this time, but within Sakura's height.

"Okay, I can do that for you."

As Sakura worked on tying the chime, the girl blabbed. "That chime is for Uncle Banri. He was a shinobi. He used to bring me and my brother sweets all the time when he came over."

"Oh? Sounds like he was a great man."

The girl nodded. "Please don't tell on me to my mom and dad for being out late. I forgot to hang it up on my way back from the Academy and I didn't want to wait until tomorrow. Someone could've stolen Uncle Banri's spot."

"Well, I think now he's got one of the best spots. Everyone can see his chime from here."

"You're right," the girl grinned. "Thank you, miss!" The girl bowed her head before running off.

Sakura smiled as she watched the girl leave. When she turned around Lee was standing where she left him, waiting for her.

Sakura felt her insides warm at the way he looked at her so fondly. Sakura walked towards him. Just a small distraction from their night wandering downtown. Just about when she was going to reach him, she felt her foot catch on a rock. She tried to regain her balance, but could not find her footing on the uneven road, especially with her civilian shoes. She let out a small yelp as she fell.

Lee immediately took a step forward and caught her as she fell into his sturdy chest. Sakura blinked in surprise. Lee's warm hands were firmly around her upper arms, holding her securely. She steadied herself on her feet using his chest as support before looking up at him, wet hair flopped in her face in a mess. He looked down at her with warm, half-lidded eyes, letting out a sigh of relief followed by an affectionate grin. Sakura returned the grin, a wordless thank you. Lee's shoulders relaxed as he took one hand and carefully tucked her wet hair behind her ear.

As they lingered a few seconds, Sakura felt confusing butterflies in her stomach as her breath caught her throat. Something about how the dim lighting hit Lee's face brought out certain handsomeness in his features that made Sakura's heart unexpectedly flutter. Maybe it was how the lighting brought out the shape of his jaw and cheekbones when he smiled, or how his dark eyes reflected the light.

Lee's remaining hand suddenly trailed off her arm and Sakura pulled her hands from his chest, taking a step back.

"The... path needs a little smoothing out, I think," Sakura said, laughing shyly, shifting her gaze away from his momentarily.

Lee chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, yes, I think so too."

Sakura felt a weird energy between Lee and her. It felt... comfortable, but it made her nervous as well.  _What are these feelings?_  Sakura thought.  _Could they be...?_

"Whore!" an voice shouted from across the street, disturbing the two shinobi.

Sakura's head swung around towards the voice. It was a man clutching a bottle in one hand, wobbling, looking right at her.

Sakura stared at him, bewildered for a moment, before realizing he directed that towards her. " _What did you say?_ " she said, her voice raising, feeling the anger begin to simmer.

The man wobbled forward. "I called you a whore!"

Sakura took a few steps forward, and shook her fist. "Who the hell do you think you're calling a whore, you drunk bastard!" she yelled, letting the anger flow. If this guy did not quit she would make him regret those words fast.

"You're just an  _Uchiha_ whore!" the man slurred. "How much longer do we have of peace until you start pumping out unstable Uchihas for that _traitor_ like some sort of broodmare, huh?!"

Sakura immediately froze, feeling like she was just punched to the gut. The anger she had drained out of her all at once.

The man took one last swig of the bottle and then chucked it at her.

Lee caught it mid-air with a skillful motion of his hand before it hit Sakura. He tossed it aside. A fierce scowl was on his face. "Apologize to her right now."

The man spat on the ground in response before turning to leave.

With just a blur, Lee had cut the distance between them and was clutching tightly on the man's shoulder. "You do not insult a woman like that and just walk away," Lee said coldly.

"Let go of me!" The man demanded, trying to jerk away from Lee's grip before throwing a punch at Lee's face.

Lee effortlessly caught the fist in his free hand. "I  _suggest_  you apologize before you come to regret it." Lee's grip tightened on the man's hand until a slight crunch was heard.

The man howled, trying to pull away from Lee's effortless iron grip. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have said that! I didn't mean it! Honest! Please forgive me!" the man babbled. "I'll never say anything like that ever again!"

Lee released his grip and the man wasted no time stumbling away, clutching his injured hand. Lee looked over to shoulder to Sakura, eyebrows furrowed.

Sakura averted her gaze to the ground as soon as he looked at her. Her arms were folded across her chest tightly, hugging herself. Feelings of dejection and shame swirled inside of her. Why? Why every time problem that had to do with Sasuke came up she immediately recoiled inward, unable to address the problem herself? Despite her insistence that she would change? She was not supposed to still be a scared genin girl anymore. She bit back tears. She did not want Lee to see her cry.

"Sakura...?" Lee approached her carefully, reaching out a hand to her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Before Lee could touch her Sakura took a step back and turned her back to him so he could not see her face. "Sorry... Lee, tonight was fun, but... I gotta go," she said with a hitch in her voice.

"But, Sakura..."

"...I just... wish things could be more like the fairy tales, y'know? Where you get to live together happily ever after. But that's never the case, is it? There's always problems; it's naive to think there wouldn't be any. And while Sasuke is gone I am left alone with Konoha's scorn towards him. Sometimes I feel like the same scared, genin girl I was before. Always alone and wondering... I just wish..." Sakura trailed off, her voice trembling.

"Sakura, wait..."

She then took a breath, and said with finality, "Goodnight, Lee," before striding hastily forward.

Before she got far Lee grabbed her arm, stopping her. His grip was gentle. "Sakura, do not go," he pleaded. Sakura paused, distraught on whether to heed his request or not. " _Please..._ " he stressed, his voice desperate.

Sakura took in a deep breath, before turning around, looking directly at Lee, her eyes wet and vulnerable. "What do you want, Lee?"

Lee searched her eyes, troubled, his eyebrows furrowed. "I... please do not go just yet. I do not want to see you leave like this. Perhaps this time I may request we do one more thing for the night?"

Sakura simply shrugged as she struggled to maintain control of her tears. "...Like what?"

"Let me show you. I hope... it might make you feel better."

Sakura looked at him, seeing how desperately he wanted to reach out to her and help, and felt her strong desire to hide herself wither away. "Okay," she said quietly.

Lee look relieved at her answer. He wrapped an arm around her back, guiding her down a side road, away from the downtown lights, to the edge of Konoha. Once they reached the end of the street, Lee led them off into the bordering forest.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked.

"You'll see."

The woods got thicker for a moment until it was hard to see; the moonlight barely reaching the forest floor through the thick leaves above. There was then a small opening, lit by the moonlight. In the center was various beat-up, makeshift dummies and targets arranged here and there, some with a spare kunai or shuriken sticking out of them. The surrounding trees and boulders were covered in scuff marks, and a few recently uprooted trees lay collapsed on the forest floor.

"What's this?" Sakura said.

"A private place where I can let off steam," Lee said, dropping his arm that was wrapped around her back. He strode up to one of the dummies and gave it a solid chakra-filled punch, letting out a shout. The dummy uprooted from the ground and went soaring, thudding hard against a tree before sinking to the ground. Lee looked over his shoulder at her, with an encouraging, yet unsure grin. "See? I can be as loud and destructive as I want and no one will disturb me." When Sakura looked at him uncertain, he motioned to the next dummy. "Go ahead. Give it a try."

Sakura walked up the nearest dummy slowly, feeling Lee's eyes on her. She stared at the dummy for a moment, imaging that it was the drunk man. Remembering his words made her tense up for a moment, but then she remembered the swirling frustration and anger she held. She punched the dummy in the gut. It wobbled on its support. Mustering up confidence, she punched it harder, this time it shook violently. She punched it a third time with chakra, letting out a frustrated yell. The dummy splintered, straw bursting from its insides. The fourth punch was an uppercut, filled with an excessive amount of chakra focused at her knuckles. The dummy went soaring up into the treetops, bursting, raining straw on her and Lee.

It felt good. It felt like every punch was releasing pent up anger, frustration, and pain... and she was just getting started.

Sakura whipped around and delivered another punch to the next nearest dummy, thinking of Naruto - her former teammate - unwilling to help alleviate her concerns, unwilling to trust her. The dummy immediately disintegrated into straw and scrap.

It was not enough.

Sakura let out a louder yell, delivering the next punch to a trunk of a nearby tree. The wood splintered. She thought of Sasuke keeping her in the dark, always pushing her away, yet keeping her just close enough. She punched the tree again, this time it toppled backwards with a shuddering crash.

She wasn't done.

She punched the nearest boulder, hearing it crack. She thought to herself, her unkept promises to herself to improve her marriage, to stand up to Sasuke, to stop moping and  _do_  something. She let out a flurry of punches, the louder cracks in the rock music to her ears until the rock crumbled in on itself.

Sakura spent what felt like forever punching and shouting, letting out all the anger and frustration that she had bottled up in her for too long out on the dummies and trees. At one point when she started punching she started feeling raw pain on her knuckles. She was being careless with her chakra, letting it flow out of her system sloppily. She was losing chakra fast, and did not care to shield her fists in chakra properly to protect herself. The pain in her fists felt good, in a way. Cathartic, perhaps.

When she went for another punch, welling up reserves of chakra in her fists, she suddenly felt faint and stopped, instead leaning onto the tree for balance. She panted heavily, sweat dripping down her forehead, as she tried to focus on keeping her feet grounded. Even if she felt lightheaded and weak, she felt odd... she felt, at that moment, free.

"...Sakura?" Lee piped up, alarmed. He had wisely stood aside, watching Sakura's rampage from a distance.

Sakura let out a deep, contented sigh, her shoulders slackened. She turned around to look at Lee with the most relaxed and relieved smile wide across her face. A smile she felt like she had not had in years. "I'm fine, Lee," Sakura said, her voice hoarse from the shouting. She then laughed lightheartedly, "In fact, I feel amazing!"

Sakura's body felt heavy and sore. She dragged her feet to the nearest downed tree and took a seat on its trunk, letting out another sigh, resting her elbows on her knees, letting her head hang down. She felt the most relaxed she had ever been in years, pent up frustration gone for at least the moment. She closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the peaceful sound of crickets chirping and the breeze through the trees. Sakura heard Lee's footsteps as he approached and sat beside her. Sakura raised her head and smiled at him.

"Did that help?" Lee asked, studying her.

"Yes... yes it did."

Lee's featured relaxed and he smiled at her, relieved. "I am glad."

Lee's eyes wandered to the training grounds, Sakura's eyes following. She saw the destruction she left - crumbled boulders, scraps of dummies, splintered and collapsed trees - and suddenly felt guilty. "I'm... sorry that I ruined your training ground. I'll be sure to replace those dummies for you."

Lee shrugged. "You need not bother. I always expect them to get destroyed."

Sakura felt immense gratitude that Lee had insisted on bringing her here rather than letting her leave to mope at home. "...Thank you, Lee. I really needed that. I've needed that for a long time."

Lee gave her a thumbs up and a smile. "Anytime. I thought it might help. I am glad that it did."

"Me too."

The clouds drifted past the moon, allowing the full intensity of the moonlight to shine over them through a gap in the trees. Sakura noticed that Lee had a few pieces of straw on his shirt, and some sticking out of his hair. He looked silly sitting there unknowing, with his sweet smile. She giggled, plucking the few pieces from his hair. Lee blinked, realizing what she was doing and then in response, reached and plucked even more straw from her hair.

"Today is just not a good hair day for me," Sakura laughed.

"It seems not," Lee chuckled with her, but when Sakura began dusting off her skirt from straw, Lee let out a small gasp. "Sakura, your hands!"

It was then Sakura noticed that her knuckles were scraped and bloody, and suddenly remembered that they stung. "Oh, don't worry about this. I wasn't being careful with my chakra."

"You should heal them," Lee insisted.

"I would, but I'm pretty much all out of chakra," Sakura admitted sheepishly. "If I use the small amount I have left I think I'd faint."

Lee stood up and strode over to a large, nondescript rock near the base of a tree. He lifted it, revealing several rolls of bandages hidden in its core. A false rock. Lee grabbed one of the rolls and sat back besides Sakura. He offered one of his hands. "May I?"

Sakura rested one of her bloodied hands on his. She watched quietly as Lee wrapped up her hand quickly and skillfully. Sakura was not surprised considering he regularly wrapped his own hands. Today he was not wearing any bandages; Sakura could see the numerous raised, dark scars littering his hands. When Lee finished with her first hand Sakura flexed it, surprised at how much dexterity she had despite the layers of bandages. Sakura offered him the other hand, and he began wrapping it up as well, carefully minding the wounds.

As Lee wrapped her hand, Sakura studied him. Like Sasuke, Lee had dark eyes and hair, but that was where the similarities ended. Sasuke's dark eyes were cold and calculating, while Lee's were warm and welcoming. Sasuke's mouth was always in a frown or scowl while Lee's in a smile or toothy grin. Sasuke was distant and cynical; Lee was friendly and optimistic. Around Sasuke she always felt uncertain, and in some strange way, alone; but around Lee she felt secure, as though he would always be there for her.

When Lee finished Sakura smiled wide at him. "Thank you, Lee."

Lee was Sasuke's polar opposite, and Sakura decided she liked it that way.


	16. Closing the Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee explores his feelings.

Lee's eyes gradually fluttered open as the morning sun peeked through the blinds of his apartment window. He breathed in deeply, taking in Sakura's intoxicating scent, as he wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her closer to him. Her back fit snugly against his chest as though they were two matching pieces of a puzzle. Lee let out a contented sigh, burying his face in the nook of her neck.

Sakura stirred, letting out an endearing groan as her eyes slowly opened.

"Good morning," Lee murmured, kissing the nape of her neck.

Sakura smiled, relaxing her body against his bare chest. "Good morning to you too."

Lee fingers brushed lightly across her abdomen, feeling hints of lean muscle underneath her smooth skin. "It is time for-"

"I know, but please let's sleep a longer? I'm not ready to get up."

Lee ran light kisses down Sakura's neck to her shoulder in response, causing her to squirm in his grip.

"Hey, that tickles!" she giggled.

Lee smirked knowingly. "Sakura, I will not stop until you agree to get up with me."

"Oh, in that case..." Sakura suddenly twisted in Lee's grip, shoving him on his back, before climbing on top of him. She straddled him as she pinned his shoulders down into the bed. "...I'll have to stop you and then keep you here in bed with me." This time she was the one smirking.

Lee's breath caught in his throat as he grinned affectionately up at her. God, she looked absolutely gorgeous. Her hair was tousled wild from sleep and she was wearing one of his civilian shirts. It was loose on her small frame, made apparent by one of her slender shoulders peeking suggestively out through the collar. "It appears I no longer have a say in the matter."

"Mmhmm," Sakura agreed with a playful smile. She leaned forward until her face was a few inches from his own, her pink hair brushing lightly against his cheeks. Lee raised his chin, expecting her to kiss him, but she stopped herself just out of reach, taunting him. "I'm surprised Rock Lee, out of all people, is willing to give up so easily."

Lee's grin turned devious as he rolled, taking Sakura with him. He ended up on top of her, propped up on his elbows, his body pressed against hers. Sakura's eyes turned from a moment of surprise to that of warmth as Lee grinned down at her. "You know me better than that, Sakura."

"That's more like it," Sakura giggled.

This time Lee closed the gap between their lips, kissing her slowly, savoring every second. Sakura's fingers combed through his messy bed hair as she kissed him back with the same fervor. When he pulled away Sakura looked up at him with dreamy eyes.

"I love you, Lee," Sakura breathed.

Lee stroked her cheek gently, his eyes tender. "And I love you, Sakura," Lee answered her.

Sakura pulled Lee's head in for another quick kiss which he happily abided. "Okay, Lee. You win. I'll get out of bed. Get off me before I change my mind."

Lee raised an eyebrow, unsure if she had another trick up her sleeve. "Yes, ma'am," he chuckled as he slid off her.

Lee climbed up out of bed before stretching out his arms and rolling his shoulders. He glanced back at the bed to see Sakura taking her sweet time to crawl out of bed. Before she could react, Lee decided to scoop her up his arms.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Sakura laughed as Lee carried her out of the bedroom.

"I am only helping you get out of bed. You seemed to be having a little difficulty," Lee teased.

"Morning people," Sakura pouted. Lee looked down to see her folding her arms across her chest with an overdramatic pout on her face. She looked adorable.

When he reached the living area he set her down on the couch. She had a warm smile across her face as she looked at him. The way she stretched out on the couch stirred something within him. Her shirt reached only a little bit past her waist leaving her slender legs bare, leaving little to the imagination. He hesitated, and for a moment he wanted to join her on that couch and forget about their obligations for the day, but he resisted and turned towards the kitchen.

"Lee," Sakura said, grabbing a hold of his hand before he could leave.

"Hmm?" Lee turned back towards her. He squeezed her hand affectionately.

Sakura sat up, lacing her fingers in his, thinking for a moment. "Well, I just wanted you to know that you don't need to feel nervous today. I believe in you wholeheartedly."

"Nervous? What do I have to be nervous about?" he chuckled.

Sakura stood up close to him, resting one hand on his chest and tracing the grooves in his muscles with the other. Lee wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She looked up at him shyly. "Your match with Neji today."

Lee stared at her, the smile from his face disappearing. "My match with Neji...?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. You've wanted to have a re-match with him for so long, and he's only now just agreed to one. It's your chance to finally defeat him in battle to prove yourself. I'm surprised you're not nervous." Sakura then giggled. "Then, I suppose that's a good thing. That means you'll definitely beat him today, huh?"

Something was not right. Lee pulled away from Sakura and took a few steps back, rubbing his suddenly aching temples.

"What's wrong?" Sakura said, her voice laced with concern as she stepped towards him.

Conflicting memories and negative emotions flashed through his head. "I..." Suddenly a vivid memory of holding Neji's dead body flashed before his eyes, and then he remembered. "Neji is gone," he whispered, looking at Sakura with sudden realization and vulnerability in his eyes.

The first thing he realized was Neji was dead and never coming back. He died during the war to protect Hinata, and Lee had held his bloodied body in his arms in the middle of the battlefield as he cried his eyes out.

Seeing the pain in his eyes, Sakura embraced him tightly. "Hey, it's going to be okay, Lee."

The second thing he realized was that the Sakura in front of him was not real.

Lee's breath shuddered as he breathed out, feeling the raw, yet familiar pain from Neji's death once more as it settled within him. His stood stiffly as Sakura hugged him, before hesitantly placing his arms around her, feeling as though it was wrong of him to do, yet still savoring the feeling of holding Sakura while it lasted. When he looked down at her now it was no longer as a lover or girlfriend, it was as his married friend. He felt shame and embarrassment looking at her now dressed in barely any clothes and the fact that mere moments ago he had held her in his arms so intimately and kissed her.

"This is just a dream," he said sadly.

"Please don't go," Sakura whispered to him.

* * *

 

Lee's eyes opened with a sudden breath. The sun was not shining through his blinds this time - it was merely the faint glow of the streetlights. The clock read 3 AM.

Lee stared up at the ceiling, resting the back of his hand across his forehead as he laid there silently. He felt an ache in his heart - loss and longing. Neji's loss was familiar, as was the longing for his death to just be a bad dream. Having dealt with that grief for years, he could easily push those feelings away. Yet, there was also another sort of longing in his heart.

His hand tightened into a fist.

No, it was just a dream. Nothing more than a dream playing with his emotions.

It was a common after-effect of those affected by the Infinite Tsukuyomi; the dreams would sometimes come back, as vivid as they had been before, more surreal than any other regular dream. For some it was a joy to have such pleasant dreams where everything is just as they want it to be, but for others it was a painful reminder of what they lost and what could never be in reality.

It had been awhile since he had last had an Infinite Tsukuyomi dream. He would now and always wish he could have Neji back, but... was the dream also telling him something by still taunting him with Sakura? _No, they could not,_ he answered. The dreams were just an echo of what he desired during the war, right?

Lee thought to Sakura, to the way she looked under the soft glow of the decorative lights that night during their dinner; the way her mouth would slowly curl into an amused smile, the way her nose crinkles right before she laughs - her laughter light and sweet - and the warmth in her captivating jade eyes as she looks at him. He thought to the warmth in his chest as he walked beside her, the magnetic pull he felt to stay close to her side. He thought to when he caught in his arms, how he liked the way she felt in his arms so close to him, how endearing she looked with her wet hair flopped in her face, how he felt the irresistible urge to affectionately place her wet hair behind her ear as an excuse to touch her.

Lee's jaw tightened.

He could not allow himself to have feelings for Sakura Uchiha. He was supposed to have discarded those feelings a long time ago. He could not let them return, especially now. Sakura was alone and emotionally vulnerable. They were just becoming true friends. What kind of man would he be to have his feelings return for a married woman whose husband was always away? It would look like he was taking advantage of her absent husband.

Lee pulled himself out of bed and got himself a glass of water. He stared out the window of his apartment at the empty street, his eyes unfocused.

Sakura finally confirmed that it was her relationship with Sasuke that was giving her trouble, not that it was a surprise to Lee. But, the woman who did her best to hide away her feelings at that moment decided to reveal just a tiny fraction of what she had been repressing for what seemed like a long time. She was terribly lonely, left to deal with Konoha's scorn towards the Uchiha. Yet, even when Sasuke came back to see her, it did not seem like he consoled her. It was a fate she did not deserve.

Lee hoped what he did for her helped her at least a bit. Obliterating his practices dummies, along with the rocks and trees, seemed to relax Sakura in a big way. There was something about that smile she gave him that made it look like all her worries had dissipated for at least that moment.

He swore he would do all he could in his power to make her happy, and do what Sasuke would not do for her.

_As a friend._

These weird feelings swirling inside of him would pass. They were nothing.

* * *

 

Heavy, dark clouds rolled over the sky as Lee walked through the graveyard, his mind focused on one particular grave. When he arrived Tenten was already there, seated cross-legged next to Neji's gravestone. She looked up at him and gave a small smile, but her face was long and sullen, more than usual. Lee joined her, taking a seat on the grass next to her.

"Hey, Lee," Tenten greeted, her voice low. She did not turn her head to look at him, her eyes were unfocused, gazing towards Neji's grave. Her shoulders were tense.

"Hello, Tenten," Lee returned, immediately noticing something was wrong. He contemplated asking her if she was okay. She was always one to lecture him about prying and lacking tact, but in this case he was willing to put up with any chastising just to make sure his friend and teammate was okay. "Is everything alright?" he asked carefully.

"I'm just pissed again that the Hyuga didn't bury Neji in their private cemetery while lesser Hyuga get the _honor_ of being buried there for merely being main house."

Lee's fist tightened. "At least we can honor Neji's memory better than the rest of the Hyuga can."

Lee and Tenten have had this conversation before. It had been surprising and infuriating to all of their remaining team that Neji would not be buried with the rest of the Hyuga. The Hyuga private cemetery was reserved mostly for main house members. The Hyuga made exceptions and buried even branch house members there if they were determined to be heroes. Even though Neji had sacrificed himself for Hinata, a main house member and daughter of the Hyuga clan leader, he was still not given the honor of being buried in their private cemetery. Upon hearing the news, Tenten had hunted down Hiashi and accused him of not caring at all for his daughter or nephew, tears streaming down her face. With the commotion she was causing in the streets, Lee had no trouble locating her when he figured out what she planned to do. Lee had pushed through the crowd forming as she threw insults at Hiashi, refusing to step aside despite his threats. Lee was able to drag her away before Hiashi or his branch house guards could make due on his threat. When Tenten had calmed down, she had theorized that the reason why Neji was not given the honor to be buried in the Hyuga cemetery because Hinata was dishonorably removed as heiress so that Hiashi didn't consider Hinata to be main house anymore. Lee didn't have any better ideas, so he agreed with her.

At the very least, having Neji outside the Hyuga cemetery allowed non-Hyuga like themselves easy access to his grave.

Tenten breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. "But, to answer your question... Yeah, I'm okay," she said, her voice thick with frustration. She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Just... ugh. Sorry. I just had one of those dreams again last night."

"Infinite Tsukuyomi?"

Tenten nodded.

"Me too."

Tenten looked at Lee, her eyebrows raised. Lee could see the hurt in her eyes now more clearly. "You too, huh?" Tenten let out a large sigh. "Maybe it's because of the weather," she said, irritation in her voice, scowling at the dark clouds. "Or..."

"Or?"

The defiant vigor in her voice died down once more. "Or, to be honest I think it's because I saw Hinata the other day," she admitted.

"I am sorry, Tenten," Lee immediately said.

"Yeah... I am too. It's just... every time I see her I think of him. Every time I see her... I think that she is only alive because Neji took a hit that did not belong to him. And sometimes..." Tenten's mouth turned into a grimace. "I feel terrible and shouldn't say this and I hate to admit it, but sometimes... I wish Neji and her traded places. I know it's completely selfish thought that only ends in passing on the pain onto someone else but..." Her voice wavered for a moment. "These stupid dreams make it hard to let him go when each one feels like real life until I wake up with the painful reminder." Tenten hugged her knees to her chest.

Lee stared at Neji's grave. "I understand completely." The thought had crossed his mind before, but he avoided thinking of it any further lest he drown himself in guilt and what-if's. Lee would offer a hug, but he knew that Tenten did not like big displays of physical affection, so he settled for gently stroking Tenten's back in solidarity as they sat in silence for a moment.

"Are your dreams always the same or do they change each time?" Tenten suddenly asked.

"They change for me."

"Mine do too. It's almost feels like the Infinite Tsukuyomi is still in our system somehow, creating new dreams based off of our deepest desires when we were first caught in it. Or maybe it's just our brains making up new dreams for us based on how much it took to the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Either way, it goes to show you how strong that jutsu really was."

"We are most lucky that we were freed from it."

Tenten turned her head to look at Lee. "Do you wish you could stay in the dream sometimes?"

Lee hesitated for a moment. "Sometimes, if only for a fleeting moment. While in the dream I have reached all my goals and desires, what meaning do they have if they have just been given to me freely, especially since it is all a lie?"

Tenten nodded, thinking. "I know, but it's just nice to Neji back, at least for a bit. The dream I had last night was just me and Neji sitting down and talking while you and Guy-sensei were training in the background. It made me feel whole again, like everything was right with the world. When I wake up I don't realize immediately that Neji is gone, and when I do a few moments later it like a punch to the gut."

"Mine are similar, but I have gotten to the point where usually any reminder of Neji makes me remember he is gone, and that I am just in a dream. As you have said, Tenten, remembering that is he gone... it really does hurt."

There was a pause. "If you don't mind me asking... what was your dream about last night?"

Lee sat stiffly. "...Sakura."

"Still, huh?"

Lee nodded slowly.

"Does it bother you when you see her to train? Even though you no longer like her that way, right?"

"I..." Lee started, his mouth suddenly dry. "Right." Lee felt an ache in his heart. "I do not have these dreams regularly. I have not had one for quite some time, actually - before Sakura and I began to train together."

"With the way you always gush about her on Sundays I wouldn't be surprised if you still liked her," Tenten sighed.

Lee froze, finding himself unsure of how to respond.

Tenten looked at Lee, studying him, bringing a sense of discomfort to Lee as he fidgeted in place. "Lee," Tenten said, softer. "I don't want you to hurt yourself. Again, maybe. It's the harsh truth, but Sakura decided Sasuke was the one for her, not you. I know you're all about never giving up, but pining for her won't change her feelings, especially if she's had the chance to since we were all genin. I know you're also still worried about her marriage with Sasuke, but drop it. Her marriage troubles aren't going to give you a chance."

"That is not...!" Lee said sharply.

"Then what is it?" Tenten challenged, raising an eyebrow. "You don't get to just pretend nothing is going on while you sit here all mopey in front of me at the first mention of her name."

Lee clenched his jaw as he sat there stiffly, trying find the right words to respond to Tenten. But, in order to that he had to first sort out his swirling emotions.

Tenten sighed. "Look, I just care because you and Guy-sensei are all I have left. You two are the only thing I can call a family considering my birth parents didn't even bother to leave me with a name before they dropped me off at an orphanage. So don't hurt yourself. I don't want to deal with that."

Lee shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to respond to Tenten. "...I am not the only mopey one here," Lee retorted.

"I know."

* * *

 

Lee punched the wooden dummy hard, causing it to splinter. He could start to feel the dull pain in his fists. The sky was dark with clouds; it was drizzling. He did not expect Sakura to come today due to the rain; but that was fine. He wanted to stay here to think. The repetition of his punches and kicks was soothing; it helped calm him and clear his head.

Did he truly have feelings for Sakura? He kept on denying it, but Tenten always seemed to pick up on something that made her think otherwise. He could not deny that he felt a particular kind of fondness for Sakura. They had been spending a lot of time together, and he has gotten to know her a lot better than he had ever known her before. They were surprisingly similar in so many ways - and he believed their friendship was able to blossom so well because of that. He told himself the only reason why he occasionally found himself admiring her impeccable beauty, or why he would feel that flutter in his chest around her, was because those were the ghosts of previous crush rearing its head.

"Lee."

Lee stopped and turned his head. Sakura was standing a few feet away from him holding an umbrella. His breath caught for a moment in his throat. "Ah, hello, Sakura! I was not expecting you here today."

"I thought at first you would skip too, but then I remembered that you're Rock Lee," Sakura replied with a wry smile. "So, I had to come just to check."

"We do not have to train today, Sakura."

"I know."

Lee gazed at her. There was a certain tenderness in her eyes that drew him in as she looked at him.

The rain suddenly picked up hard.

"Oh!" Alarmed, Sakura jogged over to him, holding the umbrella over him too. She stood close to him, only a few inches and the umbrella pole between them; she had to hold her arm up a little higher due to his height. "There," she smiled at up at him warmly.

"Thank you, Sakura, but it is not needed."

"Nonsense," Sakura said. "I won't have you standing out here in the cold rain while I'm standing here with an umbrella."

"Oh, well, fair enough. I appreciate it."

Sakura looked satisfied. "Let's move under a tree where the rain will be a bit lighter," she spoke up above the pelting rain on her umbrella.

Sakura held onto his arm and guided him to the nearest tree and positioned them against the trunk. Lee was very consciously aware of the physical contact. Her umbrella was only so big, so in order to keep both of them under it their shoulders were pressed tightly together. The rain was still bleeding through the branches and leaves, but here it was more lighter, and it was not so much the downpour as it was outside the safety of the tree.

"Much better," Sakura confirmed, letting go of his arm.

Lee let out a chuckle, perhaps a bit forced. "Yes, indeed." While he always enjoyed Sakura's company, this time he felt oddly vulnerable and caught off guard after being interrupted from sorting out his thoughts... especially since she was the subject of his troubled thoughts. "So... uh, how was your day at the hospital?" he asked, searching for a conversation topic.

"Great, actually! I've been working with my assistants on developing an antidote for that poison you were inflicted with so that the next time we send leaf-nin out in that area they will be safer and better prepared. We've finished it up and the next step we're working on is producing larger quantities of it. It feels good to be able to do something to prevent hospital visits." Sakura looked proud. He loved how much her eyes were lit up in pride. It made her eyes sparkle.

"That is uh, wonderful," Lee responded, strain in his voice. He made himself look away from her eyes before he was caught staring. Sakura eyed him curiously, but did not comment on it.

"I want to thank you again for going out with me last evening. I had a lot of fun! It had been too long since I had gone out like that. But I hope the next time we go out together less food mishaps will happen," she laughed lightheartedly. He loved that light, airy laugh.

Lee eyed her knuckles and saw that they had fully healed from her rampage last night. She must have thankfully recovered enough chakra to heal them. "Anytime, Sakura." There was a pause where the two of them looked out at the rain before Lee spoke up again. "If I might ask, why did you come if you did not wish to train?" Lee said carefully.

Sakura's eyes, once surveying the rainy training field, directed their focus on his own. "I didn't want to leave you alone in the rain," she said softly.

Flustered by her response, Lee felt heat rise to his face. He looked down to his feet sheepishly, hoping she did not notice the redness in his cheeks. "I see... Thank you."

"Were you able to get your 400 laps around Konoha today?"

"I... no, I skipped them today."

"Skipped them? That sounds unlike you. Is something wrong? In fact, you seem a bit... different today." She tilted her head forward to look up at him, so that he could not avoid her gaze. She was so close to him.

"...I'm just not feeling entirely myself today is all. We all have those off days, right? Perhaps it is just the weather," he shrugged, trying to come off nonchalantly.

Sakura leaned against him, slowly and hesitantly wrapping her arm around his. "Lee... I want to be there for you just like you were for me yesterday. I won't pry, but if I can do anything to help, please let me know." A desperation and pain was in her eyes, starving for a connection. A connection that Sasuke had been denying her for so long.

Lee's breath caught for a moment as he savored the feeling of her touch. He studied her tenderly for a moment, taking in her delicate features. "I... I just need you to be yourself," he said, smiling softly, mirroring what she had once asked of him during their training sessions.

There was a glint of recognition in Sakura's eyes as she returned his smile, with a light squeeze to his arm. "I can do that," she said, mirroring his own words to her. He loved her smile.

While they had talked, the rain slowed and the heavy clouds began to dissipate, allowing the bright sun to peek through. When the rain stopped Sakura folded up her umbrella and set it against the tree. She grabbed his hand and tugged him out on the open field. "C'mon."

Fluttery tingles spread up Lee's hand as he was stiffly tugged along. "S-Sakura?"

Sakura stopped in the center of the field, letting go of Lee's hand, before turning towards him and backing up a few yards. "You said yesterday that training helps you let off steam." Sakura raised her fists and shifted her feet. "Then let's let off some steam here. Spar with me, Lee," Sakura stated with a ready grin.

Lee blinked, before a smile crept across his face. "I can certainly do that," Lee answered, readying himself in a fighting pose.

Sakura's grin grew wider before she charged.

The two traded blows, Sakura holding a confident grin on her face. Lee felt himself relaxing, feeling eased by doing something so comforting to him. He found himself grinning back at her. Sakura had been getting better as they practiced, surprising him more often and landing blows on him. She started mixing up her moves a bit more, using more of her legs as he taught her some of his techniques. This spar felt a bit different than their previous ones. Lee felt some sort of spark between them as they fought. There were more smiles, more teasing, and a playfulness in the way they moved with each other like a dance.

"I'm going to beat you this time," Sakura teased between puffs of breath as she blocked one of his kicks.

"I am not so sure, Sakura," Lee teased back, blocking a punch, and countering with his own. "We will have to see about-"

Before Lee could finish his sentence, Sakura weaved and rolled him, before performing a Leaf Hurricane kick. Lee's eyes widened as he twisted to block the kick. The wet grass caused him to lose a bit of his balance, and before he could recover, Sakura suddenly tackled him, sending the two of them crashing to the wet ground. She immediately pinned his arms and hooked one of her legs through his in a grapple. "Got you," she declared with a victorious grin. She was leaning over him by a few inches, her pedal-pink hair brushing his cheekbones. They were both breathing heavy, their breath intermingling. The smell of sweat and rain was heavy in the hair. Her shoulders relaxed. "Looks like I finally beat-"

Before Sakura could finish her sentence Lee freed one leg, using it to twist himself and rolled, and then in a blink of an eye he was on top of Sakura, pinning her in a nearly identical grapple. "I do not think so, Sakura," Lee smirked. While Sakura's grapple was respectable, she was not careful with how she had restrained his legs.

Sakura let out a small gasp, her eyes wide as she processing how they had swapped places. She tried to squirm and escape the same way he had, but to no avail. She was firmly restrained. She looked up at him unamused, but the subtle smile that appeared in the corners of her mouth betrayed her. "That's not fair. I thought I had won so I let my guard down."

"You should never let your guard down when fighting me," Lee smirked.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him, causing Lee to chuckle. Her pout turned into affectionate grin as she looked up at him. Her cheeks were flushed with exertion; her chest sharply rising and falling as she caught her breath. Her once neat hair was spread wild around her head and her clothes were covered in grass stains. Lee could not help but think she looked beautiful at that that very moment. His breath caught in his throat as his heart fluttered in his chest. Just then he become aware of how close their faces were as he looked down at her. At that moment he felt an urge to close the mere inches of distance between their lips, wanting to feel what her real lips felt like against his. How he just wanted to sink into her and just hold her close, and lose himself in her intoxicating scent. And at that moment his stomach sank, because he could no longer deny his feelings for her.

Lee pulled off of her quickly, not allowing himself to linger any longer in that compromising position. He stood up, brushing the stray grass off of himself. Sakura stood up as well.

"I was close. Next time," Sakura warned, a playful tune in her voice.

"Ha, maybe so," Lee said, rubbing the back of his neck. He found himself unable to bring his eyes up to look at her directly. Tenten was right. He was in denial this whole time about his feelings. How was he supposed to act around Sakura now? How was he supposed to be her trustworthy friend while he had this secondary, hidden motive behind all his actions?

"How about we start genjutsu training? I have some new ones I'd like to try with you," Sakura said eagerly, stepping close to him.

Her close presence startled Lee, and he stepped back, feeling heat rise to his face. "U-Um..." He needed to get some distance between him and Sakura. He needed time to cool off. Time to think. He had to focus on keeping his composure.

"Lee?"

He shouldn't be spending so much time with Sakura. It caused these feelings for her to renew, and even strengthen. In a moment of weakness he could end up saying or doing something that he would regret, and make Sakura uncomfortable. He knows she does not want his feelings. He would only be a burden to her. While he would always support and protect her, he had to put a stop to this near daily interaction.

Sakura closed the distance between them once again, and put a concerned hand on his arm. "Lee, are you..."

Lee moved away from her touch, as much as it pained him to do, and steeled himself. "Sakura, I am sorry. I forgot that there are some errands I must take care of immediately. But I have also given it some thought, and I think I have learned all that I want to know about genjutsu dispelling. Thank you for your instruction; I will no longer take up your time."

She seemed startled and there was pain in her eyes. "Wait, what are you saying? You're done? But... there's still so much to learn!"

Lee turned away from Sakura so he wouldn't grow weak by looking at her eyes. He felt himself fill with guilt. He never wanted to be someone who would hurt her. "Yes. We can still spar from time to time if you would like, but I won't be taking up most of your afternoons anymore. See you around, Sakura."

"Oh, okay... See you around, Lee," Sakura said sadly.

With that, he left her alone on the training field.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I received some lovely reviews recently that pushed me to finally finish up this WIP chapter I've been sitting on for so long. Thank you, you guys have no idea how special your reviews are to me.
> 
> For as much as I love romantic fanfiction, I think this is the first time I've actually written a kiss scene haha.
> 
> So not only was the training scene a parallel to Lee's dream, it was also a slight reference/acknowledgement of a scene from one of my favorite Leesaku fics, "For You" by SkItZoFrEaK. But of course, by all intentions I always planned to put compromising positions in my fic because it's always been one of my favorite cliche tropes.
> 
> I also figured I wouldn't have Lee beat around the bush so much about whether he had feelings for Sakura again or not and take care of it in one chapter. Lee is very true to his feelings and has less romantic hang-ups/barriers that Sakura has (Sasuke, cough).
> 
> Until next time, my dear readers!


	17. The Rift Between Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura seeks out Lee.

When Lee left her there in the middle of the training field without warning Sakura stood there stunned, not quite sure what happened or why. One minute they were playfully sparing, the next Lee became uncharacteristically distant and cancelled their genjutsu training sessions. The ache in her chest grew as her thoughts raced to trying to explain what happened, none of it positive. She had to sit down.

Not caring about the cold, wet grass, Sakura sat down against the trunk of the tree Lee and her had just sheltered under. She huddled into herself, burying her face in her crossed arms as they rested on her upright knees as her thoughts raced.

_Why?_

Did she do something wrong? Did she upset him by tackling him? Maybe she crossed a line yesterday asking him out to dinner? Or is he getting bored of her?

Each thought caused her heart to twinge.

Spending time training with Lee had become her source of happiness. What would she do now with her time? Go back to hiding at home? Beg Tsunade to give her back her longer shifts at the hospital?

_Stop._

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

_Stop pitying yourself and making this all about you,_ she told herself. She had to break this nasty habit of hers. _He could have a totally reasonable reason why completely unrelated to you. This genjutsu training was taking up a lot of his time. Maybe he wants to do something else with his time now. He has no obligation to you._ _Go find something else to do, you idiot. Pick yourself up and deal with disappointments in life like everyone else does._

Sakura slowly stood up and brushed the grass off her legs. She sighed as she grabbed her umbrella and then dragged her feet home.

Sakura showered to wash off the sweat and grass. She forced herself to think on the things she could instead be doing with her time to distract herself. However, Lee lingered in the back of her thoughts. When she was done she collapsed in her bed, burying her face in her pillow. She came up with a whole list of things she could start doing... like visit Ino and her parents, or train her genjutsu with Kurenai, or finally start that garden she promised herself she would do one day.

She sighed. For now she just wanted to mope in bed.

* * *

Lee was sprawled across his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He wasn't sure how long he had been laying there for now.

What did he just do?

Without having time to process his rushing thoughts, he ran his mouth and told Sakura the worst cover-up excuse out of nowhere and then rudely left her alone on that field. How badly he wanted to just run back to her, beg her for forgiveness, and ask that she forget he said anything at all to her today, and to just continue their training sessions as normal.

_I am so sorry, Sakura._

He didn't know how to act or what to say. He felt like he was thirteen again; unable to handle infatuation, but now stuck with the added wisdom that came with being an adult to know all the consequences and complications that could occur with having these kinds of feelings for someone like Sakura. While his younger self would feel no shame using the L-word to describe his feelings for Sakura, he refused to use that word now. This was just infatuation. If he described it as 'love' he felt like he would be even deeper in the hole he suddenly discovered himself in than he already was.

Lee felt so ashamed for having this infatuation. He thought he had moved past this. Sakura was married, and she considered him a dear friend. He considered her a dear friend as well, but then suddenly his stupid feelings had to ruin that by complicating things.

What was he supposed to do now?

_Just act cordial, but keep your distance,_  he told himself.

But what about trying to support her, and make her happy? How was he supposed to do that by keeping distant?

He didn't know.

* * *

The week dragged on slowly.

When Sakura would finish her morning shift at the hospital she sometimes found herself wandering to the training field out of habit. When she noticed where her feet were taking her she would force herself back home. A few times she let her feet take her there, hoping to run into Lee and ask him for that occasional sparring session he promised they could do just to spend some time with him. However, he was never there. He had either started coming at a different time or switched to another training field. Each time she chose to walk up to that training field she held onto a small ember of hope only for it to be blown away when she did not see him there.

Sakura took the time to visit her parents a few times, who were ecstatic their daughter was visiting them more often. She visited Ino, who was surprised to see her but happily dragged her in to catch up. Ino commented that she was looking healthier and was overall more lively. When Ino asked about what she was doing different, Sakura just said it was thanks to her shorter work hours. In truth, her prior state had been due to obsessing over Sasuke and their marriage any spare minute she had. Lee distracted her from all of that by giving her something to do during her off hours and by being so emotionally available and understanding to her.

However, even if she was doing better than she was before, she felt a new melancholy and hollowness that haunted her - a feeling of disappointment and the nagging thought that something very important was missing from her daily routine. She chuckled at the thought of what her genin self would think of her - upset that she no longer got to regularly see Rock Lee of all people.

She shoved the creeping thought that Lee was avoiding her to the back of her brain and decided she had to listen to the harsh words inner Sakura had for her during that rainy day.  _Not everything is about you. Stop pitying yourself and do something._

So that's what she decided to do. She firmly told herself Lee was not ignoring her. He had a life outside of her. And if she wanted to visit with her dear friend to settle this nagging desire in her heart, she would have to take the initiative and not mope about until he approached her. She remembered Lee telling her that he would train with Guy and Tenten on that particular training field on Sundays and invited her to join them sometime. She had turned down his offer previously, but this time she thought she could stomach Guy if she got to see Lee.

When Sunday came about Sakura hesitantly approach the training field. When she reached the crest of the hill to her giddy delight she saw Lee sparring with Tenten on the field with Guy cheering loudly on the sidelines while simultaneously balancing one wheel of his wheelchair on the top of a slender wooden pole. Lee was wielding nunchucku while Tenten had a wooden bō staff. The two weaved around each other gracefully, wielding their weapons with impressive finesse.

Sakura paused, suddenly feeling unsure of herself. The giddy smile on her face faded. What if she was disturbing them? What if she wasn't wanted here?

_If they don't want to train with you today they should have the guts to tell you,_  she told herself.

She let out a deep breath to let out some of her sudden anxiety. Inner Sakura was right. She cautiously approached Guy on the sidelines.

Guy tilted his head to look down at her with his sparkling grin. "Ah, hello, Sakura!" Guy's voice boomed.

At that instant Lee faltered in his attack as his head whipped towards Guy and Sakura, wide-eyed, before Tenten's bō knocked him off his feet with a solid whack to his side. Sakura winced.

"You weren't paying attention!" Tenten scolded Lee, displeased with her easy victory, before strolling up to Guy and Sakura with a warm grin as Lee struggled to his feet, trying to recover from having the wind knocked out of him. "Sakura! Long time no see! Finally decided to come train with your fellow taijutsu adepts, eh?"

"Oh, uh, yeah! I would love to if you wouldn't mind," Sakura smiled politely. She glanced at Lee, who was back on his feet clutching his tender side, but he was still hovering on the training field. Upon catching his eye Lee nodded at her in greeting, his face unreadable.

"Ah, I am overjoyed to hear that, Sakura," Guy said, still balancing above her on his pole. "Young shinobi these days are only interested in flashy ninjutsu. I'm proud that you have the wisdom to show a more keen interest in the overlooked might that is taijutsu." Guy flipped his wheelchair so that he was now doing a single-arm handstand on the balancing pole for added effect. He gave her a thumbs up with his free hand. "My dear Lee has told me that you've been improving your genjutsu skills as of late, too. I wanted to express my utmost gratitude that you've been spending so much time training Lee on genjutsu dispelling. With that skill under his belt he shall be an even more splendid shinobi."

Sakura let out a feigned, awkward laugh. "Uh, thank you, and you're-"

"However! He's been awfully evasive about your training sessions as of late. I can only assume you must be teaching him a secret technique of yours, one that you've sworn him to absolute secrecy. Am I right, or am I right?" Guy pointed at her with a 'knowing' wink.

Guy's eyes drilling into Sakura was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. "Uh..."

"Ignore him," Tenten said, waving her hand dismissively. "Let's spar! My blood still flowing and I'm itching for another fight! What weapon would you like?"

"Right," Sakura said, thankful for Tenten for saving her from Guy, "Uh... I don't typically use weapons outside of kunai, so I'm not sure," Sakura said, caught off guard by Tenten's forwardness. "Maybe we could spar with our fists instead?"

"Or how about you let me teach you some basic skills for another weapon then?" Tenten insisted eagerly. "It's a very important skill not enough shinobi our age are trained in!"

"Oh, uh, sure. How about you pick the best beginner weapon for me and we'll start there." Sakura stole another glance at Lee. This time he averted his eyes when he caught hers. She swore his face flushed red in embarrassment, but then again, it was probably just from all the physical exertion.

"Awesome! Then this'll do." Tenten handed Sakura her bō before summoning another one from her scrolls. Tenten strode out to the field where Lee still stood. Sakura followed.

"Hi, Lee," Sakura said gently, offering him a smile.

"Ah, h-hello, Sakura!" Lee stuttered, returning the smile, albeit a bit stiffly, and he wouldn't hold her gaze.

Sakura's smile faded, feeling discouraged. "Before my match do you want me to take a look at your side and heal it before it bruises? Looked like a nasty blow."

"No thank you, Sakura. I shall be fine!" Lee stretched his torso to prove a point, but his face instantly twisted into a grimace. "Perfectly... fine..." he insisted.

Sakura took a step towards Lee. "Lee, please let me-"

"Don't worry about him," Tenten interrupted. "Let's just spar for a bit and maybe his pride will settle so he will let you heal him afterwards." Tenten then shared a glance with Lee, giving him a hard, questioning look.

"Oh... okay then," Sakura responded, giving Lee a long, worried look. Lee caught her eye for a moment before he silently bowed his head in shame and sat down next to Guy, who had gotten down from his balancing pole to rest. Lee was definitely not acting himself, and Sakura was starting to get concerned.

"Then let's start," Tenten said, pulling Sakura's attention away from Lee.

Tenten went right into it. She taught Sakura the correct offensive and defensive stances, the weak points to aim for, the best way to counter attacks, and the right situations to use a bō. Tenten eagerly explained everything to her, clearly happy to be able to teach a new person about her passion for martial weapons. Guy was encouraging them in the background. Sakura went through the motions but her mind was on Lee. She would occasionally glance at him while Tenten paused to explain something. He was watching them with a reserved expression on his face.

"Ha, you learn quick!" Tenten grinned, leaning on her bō. "I'm impressed! How about I teach you about tonfas next?"

"Maybe next time," Sakura said. "I'm actually interested in sparring with Lee for a bit." She smiled sweetly at him.

Lee tensed. "Me? Maybe another time, Sakura. I... My side hurts more than I thought it did. It would be unwise to aggravate it. In fact, I should probably go home early to let it rest." Lee stood up quickly.

Guy raised an eyebrow. "If that's what you think is best, Lee."

"Aww, c'mon, Lee!" Tenten huffed. "I didn't hit you  _that_  hard."

"Lee..." Sakura pleaded.

This time Lee's gaze lingered long on Sakura to where she could see the distraught in his eyes. "Sorry, I will see you all next practice. It was nice seeing you, Sakura." With that, Lee left again.

Rather than groaning like Sakura expected Tenten to do, the weapons-master instead studied Sakura carefully for a few moments. "We can still train if you'd like to, Sakura."

"Sorry, Tenten. Maybe next time," Sakura said. She had to catch up to Lee. She wouldn't let him walk away like that again.

As though reading her mind, Tenten said, "Alright, well... good luck cheering him up then."

Sakura was a bit caught off guard, but she nodded, giving Guy and Tenten a wave, then jogged to catch up to Lee. Lee had strode away fast enough that she had quickly lost sight of him off the field. When she caught sight of him he was taking the steps down the path back into town.

"Lee! Wait!" Sakura called, catching up to him.

Lee froze in his steps and turned around to look at her. His expression was guarded. "Hello, Sakura. Do you need something?"

His guarded face looked so foreign to Sakura. It reminded her of Sasuke. She hated it. "Can we talk?"

"Uh, sure, what about?"

"Well, you've been acting... different since we last saw each other."

Lee forced a smile. "Oh? I have not noticed."

Sakura was starting to feel her confidence waver. "I... Yeah. You left suddenly after... after I thought we were having a good time. I'm not sure what suddenly changed... if I did something wrong, or... or something has come up in your life, but I  _know_  something is wrong." She stepped forward and hesitantly reached her hand out to touch his arm lightly. "Please don't lie to me, Lee. What's wrong?"

"Sakura, I..." Lee's eyes softened, but he was still hesitant.

"It's just, I trust you and you're very... dear to me. I feel like you've put some barriers up between us suddenly and I don't know why." Sakura's voice wavered. "You've been nothing but open and understanding with me for the months we have trained and so this sudden change worries me."

"I..." Lee's eyebrows knitted together, his eyes looked wounded. "Please do not mistaken me, Sakura. You have not wronged me in the slightest. Your presence has been nothing but a blessing," he said carefully. "It is just... I think we have been seeing each other too much. People will get the wrong idea..."

"What do you mean?"

"...People will get the wrong idea seeing a married woman spending so much of her free time with another man. I know how much your... current reputation upsets you now." Sakura flinched, thinking of the village scorn she's received for being an Uchiha. "I would only make matters worse for you."

"What... what are you talking about?" Sakura said in disbelief, her cheeks flushing. She dropped her hand from Lee's arm. "We've... We've been training alone for the most part and we've only been walking back into town together. We were mistaken for a couple once when we had dinner together."

"And it is only bound to happen more. You are famous, so people are bound to pay closer attention to you. Rumors could spread and tarnish your reputation. I promised to protect you, Sakura. By keeping my distance, I can protect you from being hurt."

"Don't... don't you dare corrupt that," Sakura protested. She didn't want him to use his promise against her in this way. "I don't care what other people think when they see us. I'm not a child needing to be protected. Let me make this decision for myself."

Lee glanced at the ground, away from her gaze. He looked pained. "...I am sorry, Sakura." He began to walk away.

Seeing Lee leave her there started to fill Sakura with desperation. She wasn't done yet. She had to convince him to change his mind. "Lee, please listen to me!"

But in a flash he was gone.

_"Lee!"_

There was no response.

Lee once again left her stunned and abandoned. Is this how their bond ended? Broken by something so simple as the fear of public misunderstanding? This 'special' bond she had started to feel between them deep within her heart had been nothing but a naive, fleeting fantasy. Before she knew it, tears streaked down her face. She rubbed them away quickly before someone could see, but more quickly replaced what she had brushed away. She had been foolish... foolish to think that someone like her could have a lasting bond with someone like Rock Lee.

But if it was all just a naive fantasy, shouldn't it have been more obvious? Why did it hurt so much? Friends came and go. But the ache in her heart felt different than the separation of mere friends, especially one she had only started to truly bond with in the past few months. The pain and longing she was feeling reminded her of what she would feel when Sasuke would leave her.

Sakura moved off the path behind one of the trees for privacy while she collected herself, taking in deep breaths as the tears dried.

Once the tears dried she started to feel anger and dejection swirl inside of her. This was happening all because apparently a man and a woman couldn't be friends because of what complete strangers might think. All because she was married to Sasuke. And Lee took it upon himself to decide what was best for her as though she couldn't make that decision herself.

When Sakura made it home she slammed the door shut. She flexed her hands. She was itching to punch something and let out this anger and frustration inside of her. She paced in the living room. Her eyes caught the only picture frame of her and Sasuke sitting on an end table. Her eyes softened and she stopped, picking up the frame and running her fingers delicately across Sasuke. She was framed separately on one side and Sasuke on the other. They were embarrassingly separate pictures; Sasuke did not like to get his picture taken. The only other picture she had of him was their Team 7 genin picture. This framed picture of Sasuke was one he had taken with those missing-nin he had teamed up with when he was a fugitive. She had gotten a copy of it from Sasuke and clipped out his former companions to fit the photo in the frame.

For only a fleeting moment she felt reassured by looking at Sasuke's handsome face, wondering when he would be home next, before the words echoed in her head:  _This is all Sasuke's fault._

The anger boiled back and she felt the urge to chuck the picture frame across the room. Instead she placed it back on the table and turned it face down so she did not have to look at it any longer.

If she wasn't married to Sasuke she would not have inherited the village's Uchiha sworn. If she wasn't married to Sasuke, she could have remained close to Lee without these damn complications.

She stopped her train of thought. She shouldn't think such things of Sasuke. She needed to cool down.

Sakura headed to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. When she looked up at the mirror she saw that her eyes were still red and puffy from crying earlier. She looked like a mess.

_Look at you. So emotionally dependent on the men in your life. You keep putting all your hopes and happiness into them and then you fall apart so easily without them. Sasuke... Naruto... and now Lee. That's all you've ever done. Stop wallowing in your own misery and create your own damn hope and happiness._

Inner Sakura's cutting words were right. She had to get over it and move on. But in the end she was only human, and she needed time to heal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was originally planning to get a lot more done this chapter and move forward that background plot, but guess that's going to require a little more words than I originally thought. I'll hopefully cover what I wanted to cover next chapter. Until next time, my dear readers. I love you all and each one of your kind reviews brings me so much joy. :)


	18. Unveiling Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee stumbles into a conflict. Sakura asks questions.

Lee was laying down across a thick, horizontal branch of one of the great trees along the border wall of Konoha, arms crossed behind his head. Lee looked up at the overcast sky through the leaves. He had to unfortunately go easier today because the joints in his weaker arm and leg were aching due to the weather changes. Tsunade warned him to listen to his body and not strain his weak arm and leg when they hurt. When he had returned back from the failed Sasuke retrieval mission, Tsunade scolded him for running off and straining his body right after surgery. He couldn't blame her; he had ripped open his stitches and his fixed arm and leg were covered in deep bruising overworking them so soon. Tsunade told him that it would affect his healing, and he might be left with some chronic stiffness... which she ended up being right on. He did not regret it. Sakura looked so sad when they both watched the retrieval team send-off... while he tried to offer comforting words, it meant nothing without action behind them. He had to find some way to return a smile to her face, and back then it seemed like the only way to do that was to bring back Sasuke.

Lee sighed. Why did he say _that_  to her yesterday?

Again, Lee had dodged around the real issue at hand and lied to Sakura. To cover up his uncertainty and fears he had over his feelings for her, he made up a reason to keep his distance. 'People would get the wrong idea,' he had said his concern was.

That was a lie.

He was worried he would slip up and say or do something uncomfortable. Sure, other people could get the wrong idea, but Sakura was right - it should have been her decision; he shouldn't have taken that away from her. But he panicked and did so anyway, and corrupted the meaning of his promise to her.

_I am a terrible person,_  Lee thought, full of guilt.

Was trying to create some distance the right thing to do? Or did he make a terrible mistake?

A sudden shout nearby interrupted Lee's rest. Startled birds wildly flapped away. Lee returned to his feet in an instant. He listened. More shouts.

_Perhaps others are simply sparring out here,_  Lee reasoned.

By straining his ears he was able to make out words. "You don't have to do this! Please stop!"

Someone was in trouble. He darted towards the voices across the tree branches. When he had gotten close enough he pressed himself against the truck of a tree to hide as he peered below. A struggle was going on between two people, an older man and a younger girl. Lee's eyes widened, instantly recognizing the form they were both using: The Gentle Fist. They were both Hyuga. The older Hyuga had the upper hand and was keeping on the offensive while the younger Hyuga barely kept up. This was no spar; the older Hyuga had killing intent behind his blows.

"You there! Help me!" she called desperately.

Of course she could see him with her Byakugan. The tree did nothing for Lee. Which meant the other Hyuga could see him too.

"Hisako!" the Hyuga man called sharply, not taking his eye off his prey.

Before Lee could intervene, another Hyuga appeared suddenly beside him, her palm thrusting towards Lee's heart. Caught off guard, Lee blocked her arm from the side, careful not to touch the Hyuga's hands. However, he had reacted too late, and the palm redirected firm against his left shoulder. Lee felt the sharp pain of the foreign chakra internally stabbing him. He leaped back onto another branch to get some distance to recover, immediately taking on a defensive stance.

"I may have missed the killing blow, but good luck trying to use ninjutsu with that sealed chakra point," the Hyuga, assumedly Hisako, smirked at Lee. She was a young woman close to him in age with short black hair and a birthmark on her chin. The veins on the side of her lavender eyes were pronounced on her skin.

"That will not be a problem," Lee stated, his expression firm.

Lee's left shoulder felt numb and stiff; it was a familiar feeling from his spars with Neji. This injury was going to affect his motor skills and strength in that arm somewhat, but it would be manageable. He spared a glance at the girl being attacked. She was genin-age and despite being at a disadvantage, was holding her own pretty well against her older opponent. Lee badly wanted to jump to her aid, but he couldn't just ignore Hisako, and end up dragging another enemy in close quarters to the girl.

"Why are you doing this?" Lee asked, studying his opponent for openings in her stance. The Hyuga's legs were a little too close together. If Lee tried, he could exploit this to knock her off her feet.

"This is Hyuga business only. Outsiders like you don't need to know a thing," Hisako spat, throwing a kunai at him with a tag.

Lee knew better than to block it. Lee leaped off the branch to a lower one, minding the tagged kunai. Shiruken exploded out of of the tag as the kunai passed him. Lee used his momentum to swing himself to the other side of the tree. He heard clunks as the shiruken embedded deeply in the tree trunk. Hisako appeared suddenly from around the other side of the trunk aiming another attack at his heart. This time Lee was ready for her and deftly redirected her palm aside. The two of them traded quick blows. Lee remained defensive with his feet planted, not wanting her to find an opening to disable him. He found himself quickly getting into the motions, blocking and evading all of her punches with ease, and found himself able to predict her next moves. Lee knew he could thank his familiarity with the Gentle Fist technique to Neji.

"This isn't the first time you've fought a Hyuga," Hisako stated after recoiling from a blow, displeased.

Lee frowned, saying nothing. Fighting her was bringing back fond memories of sparring with Neji. It made his heart ache.

Hisako darted forward with another series of punches. When he spotted an opening, Lee deftly grabbed her arm and redirected her downward to try and catch her off balance. Hisako stumbled and fell from the tree. Lee followed her down with a solid kick to her stomach, knocking the breath out of her. Hisako hands shot out to his foot as they fell, hoping to disable it. Lee leaped away, knowing better, before rebounding against the side of a tree towards her with another kick. Hisako caught a branch and swung herself away from him, trying to recover.

_I need to hurry,_  Lee grimaced.

In a flash Lee was behind her. Knowing he was there, she tried to whip around to defend herself, but it was too late. Lee delivered a hard leaf whirlwind kick to her side, sending her flying. Her head banged hard against the tree trunk with a crack before she went limp and fell to the forest floor.

Lee's eyes darted immediately to the girl in danger. She was on the ground backed up against a boulder with the Hyuga man cornering her. The girl's limbs were covered in sealed chakra point bruises and her movements were sluggish. Lee's eyes widened; he recognized the fatal Gentle Fist move the man was planning. In a blur Lee was at the Hyuga man's side, hurtling his fist at the man's head. The man knew he was there, and attempted to dodge, but it was clear he was not expecting that sort of speed out of Lee when he leaped back with a cut at his temple from Lee's knuckle. Lee immediately moved in front of the girl as the man glared them down.

"Thank you," the girl said.

Lee glanced at her to check her condition. It was then he realized her forehead was bare of the curse seal and she had a familiar likeness about her. "H-Hanabi Hyuga?" Lee stuttered. She was Hinata's sister, heiress to the Hyuga clan. It had been a few years since he had last gotten a good look at her.

"Yes," Hanabi said rather coolly. "Don't worry about me and keep your eyes on Takeo."

Lee's eyes shifted back to the Hyuga man - Takeo. He had a frustrated grimace on his face, his body was tense as though he was deciding between fleeing or fighting. Before he could decide, his head suddenly swung towards a corner of the forest, pure panic on his face.

"Father..." Hanabi uttered.

Takeo dashed towards the unconscious Hisako and tried to pull her up to her feet. Before he could get her up he suddenly collapsed, writhing on the ground with a bloodcurdling scream as he clutched his head. Lee's jaw tightened. He knew what this was but he had never seen it in person. Someone had activated his cursed seal.

Out of the corner of the forest several Hyuga men appeared with Hiashi Hyuga himself in the middle, holding up his hand in a sign.

Hanabi stumbled to her feet and ran to her father. "Father, he's subdued, you can stop it now," she pleaded.

Hiashi's stern face looked down at his daughter, eyeing her injuries. With a nod of his head his guards rushed to the rogue Hyuga as he released the seal. The screaming subsided, replaced with whimpers as Takeo curled into a ball. "You could have used the curse seal at any time to put a stop to this," Hiashi scolded.

"I know, but..."

"This was not the time to think on the morality of the seal. It was meant to be used in situations just like this. You would have been dead if help did not come." Hiashi's eyes drilled into Lee, with perhaps a hint of recognition. Lee felt out of place in this clan conflict, and shifted on his feet uncertainly. It was hard to imagine this man as Neji's uncle.

The guards had both of the rogues restrained and dragged them back to Hiashi. One of the guards lifted Takeo's limp head by his hair so Hiashi could see his face.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Hiashi said.

"I did it for the Hyuga," Takeo spat.

Hiashi's expression soured. "You no longer belong with the Hyuga," he responded. "Prepare them for interrogation. I will join shortly," he said to his guards.

The guards nodded and hurriedly dragged the two rogues away.

"How did you know where to find me?" Hanabi asked her father.

"Hinata knew you liked to come here."

Lee took this opportunity to step forward, not wanting to continue being a passive viewer. "Why did they attack Hanabi?" he asked, concerned. What sort of inner conflict was going on within Konoha's own walls during this time of relative peace?

The two Hyuga looked at Lee. Hanabi opened her mouth to speak but Hiashi raised his hand to silence her. Hanabi bit her lip.

"This concern is only for Hyuga," Hiashi answered curtly. "Thank you for protecting Hanabi. You may leave."

Lee wanted to protest but he knew that was unwise. He was not going to get any more information of someone like Hiashi. He knew that much after watching Tenten try to after Neji's death. Lee bowed his head out of respect and left, giving Hanabi one last curious glance. There was a deep frustration in her eyes.

* * *

"Sakura."

"S-Sasuke!" Sakura whipped around from the kitchen sink. Sasuke stared at her, his expression unreadable, as always. His hair had grown longer, such that his bangs were hiding his eerie Rinnegan. While she normally would want to go for him for a hug - to touch him as a reminder to herself he was real - something held her back this time. She could feel his cold presence swallowing up the room. "I... I wasn't expecting you home, if I had known I would have gone grocery shopping today," she said sheepishly.

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke said, as he began removing his traveling gear on the kitchen table. "I will be visiting Naruto and be leaving again shortly after."

"Oh," Sakura said glumly. Of course he would. "Will you be leaving to visit him right away?"

"Yes," Sasuke responded as he headed to the door. "I just wished to drop off my things first."

"Wait!"

Sasuke stopped and turned his head back towards Sakura and caught her eye.

"I-" Sakura hesitated.

_Now's the time,_  a voice in her head said.  _Question him and don't back down. Don't be so weak-willed this time!_

"Naruto can wait. We need to talk," Sakura said firmly.

He turned around to face her. "What is it?"

Sakura bit her lip. She hadn't thought this far ahead. She was not expecting Sasuke to arrive yet and she hadn't sorted out all the questions she wanted to ask him, but it was time to put her foot down or otherwise it would be several more weeks until she saw him next. "It's about your missions..." Sakura's eyes drifted from his. When she noticed her averted gaze, she forced herself to look back at him. "What are you doing on them? Why does every single one take you away from home for so long?"

"Like I've told you, there are parts of the shinobi world I haven't seen. These missions allow me that opportunity to see and learn things for Konoha," Sasuke said, reciting his usual response.

_That's always been his excuse._

"Well... like what? Why are you always being so secretive about it all? You've never been clear to me what you've been doing this whole time."

Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow, not expecting this sort of reaction out of her. "Because it's classified."

"Bullshit," Sakura declared, her fist trembling at her side. "I know a lot of these missions are low rank. Nothing low rank would require this level of secrecy."

Sasuke chuckled. "Naruto told you this, I assume?"

"Does it matter?" Sakura shot back, taking a step towards him, feeling bold. She had found her confidence again. "Are these missions just an excuse to get out of the village? Are... Are you not happy here?" Her eyes softened as she searched his own, but she kept her expression firm. She had hoped she and Naruto could provide that happiness for him.

Sasuke's eyes twitched.

"Is it because of the villagers' distrust of the Uchiha...?" Sakura implored, studying him, trying to catch another reaction from him. "If so, you need to stay and show them not to hate the Uchiha name! Uchiha may have started the war, but an Uchiha helped end it. You need to remind them of that. How can Konoha learn to trust the Uchiha again when you're always gone? You need to show them the good in you, and things will get better, I promise. I may now carry the Uchiha name, but it's not by blood, so I can't be the one to change people's feelings as much as I would like to try."

Sasuke remained silent, now studying her as much as she was studying him.

The silence bothered Sakura, so she kept talking, hoping to snag some sort of conclusive answer. "Or... is something else about Konoha bothering you? You said you have a problem with the shinobi system... please explain that to me so I can understand and not be ignorant to it."

Sasuke continued staring at her, expression unchanging. Sakura was starting to feel silly and self-conscious for rambling so suddenly to him.

"...Sorry, it's just... dammit, I'm... I'm lonely. I miss you every day. It hurts when people ask me where you are and what you're doing when I don't know a thing. I haven't been blind to the looks of concern I get when I can't answer those questions. Can you blame me for wondering? Wondering why even when we are married you feel like such a stranger to me sometimes?" Sakura's voice trembled.

Sasuke looked at her with pity. "That day at the Uchiha memorial... you said you wanted to help me. Is that still true?" Sasuke asked, eyes drifting to the photo frame of them that Sakura had placed face down on the end table.

"Yes, of course," Sakura answered.

_Please, let him open up._

Sasuke nodded, satisfied. He leaned against the wall. "I actually need your talents to help me with something coming up soon. If you help me, I can give you what you want."

"To finally be together with no secrets?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"Yes," Sasuke answered coolly. "As long as I can trust you to keep this between us."

"You can trust me with anything." Sakura felt her heart swell up with joy... but there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that kept her from getting drunk on the bit of validation Sasuke had given her. It reminded her of what she harshly told herself yesterday about being too emotionally dependent, and the doubt of being burned by Sasuke so many times. "What do you need me to do?"

"The details are still being worked out, but I have need of your expert chakra control to do something I cannot do myself. I will need you to come with me outside of the village. I know you've wanted to join me on one of my missions for awhile now. You'll finally get that chance."

"My chakra control? What for?"

"I'd rather we discuss it when we leave. The next time I return to the village I will take you with me and explain everything, just like you've always wanted."

Sakura was taken aback. For all her suffered misery, this seemed to be too easy, or perhaps she had merely just asked these questions at the right time. Something didn't seem right. "Oh... Okay! Great!" She honestly didn't have anything better to say.

Sasuke smirked, seemingly amused by her shocked reaction. "May I go now?"

"S-Sure!" Sakura responded quickly. "I'll, um, have leftovers in the fridge if you need them."

Sasuke nodded. "See you, Sakura," he said, and left.

Sakura stood there, staring at the shut door that Sasuke went through for a few long moments in disbelief. Just like that, she would have all her questions answered that plagued her for the entirety of their marriage? That all that difficulty and vagueness from Sasuke would be solved by the next time they meet? Sakura was eager for answers, but also very doubtful.

Shikamaru's request echoed in her head: keep an eye on Sasuke for any suspicious behavior.

Could she trust Sasuke answer  _all_  of her questions? Or will he just answer them cryptically or just lie to her?

She couldn't depend on Sasuke for all of the answers. She was done depending on him and begging him for scraps of recognition. Lee's effortless attentiveness towards her these past months as merely a friend made her realize how pitiful her mindset was before in regards to Sasuke - that she allowed herself to stoop so low as to fight for validation and affection from her own husband like a parched person desperately seeks water in a desert.

Her eyes drifted to the traveling gear Sasuke left on their kitchen table. A poncho, various small weapon bags, a few scrolls, and a backpack of survival gear. Sakura approached them warily, taking another glance at the door to make sure Sasuke was truly gone. Should she look through his things? Would that be a betrayal of his trust and privacy?

_You're his wife, you can look through his things. And it's not like he's ever trusted you much, anyway._

Sakura searched through his bags. She found rations, knives, poison vials, camping supplies... nothing unusual. While digging through his backpack her fingers brushed a hidden compartment. From it she produced a single photo. Sakura was familiar with it - it was of Sasuke and his team of missing nins. Sakura never remembered the names of the two men, but she remembered Karin, who was blushing with a sweet smile. Sakura's memories suddenly flashed to seeing Karin crumbled on the ground, bleeding out, with Sasuke egging her to kill Karin to prove her loyalty to him. Sakura shook her head to rid herself of that terrible memory. This photo must mean a lot to him for him to take it everywhere with him. She wondered why he wasn't carrying that Team 7 photo of them instead. She thought Sasuke had only took on those missing nins only for his purpose of killing Itachi. Perhaps he cared about them more than she thought.

Sakura sighed, disappointed that she found nothing, but her eyes trailed back to the vials of poison. Poisons were often regional, made with whatever toxins that were native to the area. Sasuke was always on the road, weeks at a time, so he was bound to resupply while away from Konoha. She inspected the vials - most of them she recognized as toxins native to the Land of Fire, however, there was one empty, unlabeled vial with nothing but a few drops of poison left. This one had a distinct dark purple hue to it. Sakura went to her room and dug out her own shinobi supplies, pulling out an empty vial of her own. She came back to the kitchen table and replaced the suspicious vial with one of her empty ones.

_Hopefully Sasuke won't notice,_  she thought as she swished around the meager amount of poison.  _I just hope it's enough for our analyzer to pick up_. She pocketed the vial for later. She would get it tested in the lab when she went into work.

Sakura then went through the task of putting everything back where it belonged in Sasuke's things, hopefully such that he shouldn't know she had snooped. She felt dirty doing something like this, but she couldn't fully trust Sasuke she realized. She hated that about him - that he never tried to earn anybody's trust. When she thought about it, there were actually a lot of things she didn't like about Sasuke, and it hurt to admit it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this?! Actual plot after 18 chapters? Yep, I know. I'm not wildly happy with how this chapter turned out but it gets the job done. Once again, thank you for all of your kind reviews!


	19. The Time for Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura and Lee get a call to action.

When Lee opened his apartment door the next morning after a knock he did not expect to see Hinata Uzumaki of all people.

"Hinata?"

Hinata bowed deeply, deeper than anyone had ever bowed to him. "Lee, I wanted to sincerely thank you for what you did from the bottom of my heart," Hinata said. She outstretched her hands towards him, offering a neatly wrapped gift.

Lee stared at her, taken aback and confused. "I am sorry, Hinata, but I do not know what I have done to deserve such praise. Please, you need not bow."

Hinata stood up and smiled sweetly at him. "For saving Hanabi yesterday."

Lee blinked, and upon finally connecting the dots together he grinned back. "Oh, you are welcome! However, I feel like I did not do as much as I could," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"She's alive thanks to you, and that's what matters," Hinata replied, holding out the gift more insistently.

Lee sheepishly took the gift. "Thank you, but it is not necessary-"

"Please, I insist."

Lee nodded. His thoughts flashed back to the previous day, and how tight-lipped every Hyuga was about the conflict. "If I may ask, what is going on with the Hyuga?" he said, lowering his voice.

Hinata's smile faded. "May I come in?"

* * *

"Could you please run this vial to figure out more about this compound?" Sakura asked Sho, the always dependable lab technician.

Sho took the vial in Sakura's hand, inspecting the few remaining droplets in the dim light of the lab. "Anything for you, Sakura. If I may ask, do you know anything about it?"

"It's poison," Sakura answered.

Sho nodded, needing nothing more. "There's not much left in this vial, so it might take longer for the analyzer to figure it out. However, it should have it figured out by tomorrow. Come by then."

"Thank you," Sakura curtly nodded, and strode out of the lab. She had to return back to her regular hospital duties. She couldn't let her personal matters distract her from someone who might desperately need her medical expertise.

"Hey, Sakura!"

Sakura turned her head, seeing Shizune approaching from down the hallway. "Oh, Shizune! There you are!"

"I've been looking all over for you! C'mon, let's have our lunch break already! I'm starving!" Shizune complained.

Sakura giggled. "Fine, I'm sorry. Let's go."

* * *

Hinata sipped slowly at the tea Lee had offered her as they sat across from each other. She set the tea down on the kitchen table. Lee watched her quietly, letting her take her time.

"All of that conflict yesterday was about the Hyuga cursed seal, I'm pretty sure," Hinata finally said. "There has been a stir within the branch houses... they want the practice to stop and have the main house remove the seals off of those who have them."

Lee thought to Neji, on how bitter he had been over the cursed seal on his forehead in their early genin days and how hidden he kept it. "But it is impossible to remove the cursed seal once it is placed, correct?"

"Yes, as far as I know. But the branch houses demand that a way be found."

"I see. What will happen to those two Hyuga that were captured?"

Hinata was quiet for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed. "They... they will be tortured for any information they have and sentenced to death for attempting to kill the heiress."

Lee stared into the depths of his own cup of tea, not sure what to say.

"That's all I know. Father has been limiting my contact with Hanabi - he's afraid I'm influencing her."

Lee looked up sharply. "It is not right for him to do that! You are family!" Family was something precious that should be treasured, Lee thought, as someone whom no longer had any blood relatives of his own. He lamented the fact that he had been too young to remember his parents faces and had no records or photos of them to know who they were - all of that was destroyed when the Nine-Tails attacked Konoha all those years ago.

Hinata's posture stiffened. "He's doing what he thinks is best for his family and clan even if it's hard to understand. Even when he disowned me out of the main house, he refused to brand me with the cursed seal." Hinata frowned sadly, and began to twiddle her thumbs like she used to do all the time in her youth. "I... I think I should at least be grateful for him for that."

Lee held his tongue, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He did not agree that Hiashi should be given points for something as small as that. "...How is Naruto?" he asked, changing the subject.

Hinata's eyes brightened at the mention of her husband. "He is very busy, but happy. I know he doesn't get out as much as he would like but he wouldn't trade his job as Hokage with anything else in the world. But I admit he has been a bit troubled with Sasuke..." Hinata drifted off, but then shook her hands to dismiss it the topic. "But never mind about that," she said quickly. "How is... Guy and Tenten?"

Before Lee could answer, there was another knock at the door. "Please excuse me for a moment, Hinata," Lee said as he got up from his chair.

When Lee opened the door he saw a messenger-nin with the Hokage's symbol on her vest. She saluted at Lee and handed him a letter of summons. "Rock Lee, the Hokage requests your presence for an important mission."

* * *

Sakura spent her lunch outside chatting with Shizune, when a masked Anbu appeared before them.

"Sakura Haruno," the Anbu man saluted, a familiar voice coming out from behind the mask.

A smile crept up on Sakura's face. "Remove that mask, Sai. Is it really necessary?"

Sai removed his mask as requested and returned her smile - a genuine smile rather than his old practiced one. "It's good to see you, Sakura." He handed her the letter of summons in his hand. "You're wanted for a mission by Naruto."

"Oh wow, how exciting!" Shizune exclaimed, peering at the letter.

Sakura eyed the summons curiously. It had been too long since she had last gone out on a mission. "How did an Anbu like you get delegated to the lowly task of mail delivery? Do I need to threaten Naruto for you?"

Sai chuckled lightly. "Oh, when I heard you were asked for this mission, I requested that I deliver this summons personally to say hello."

"How sweet of you."

"How about we walk together on your way to the Hokage's office and catch up?" Sai suggested.

"Well, if you insist," Sakura said lightheartedly. She turned to Shizune. "Let Tsunade know I'll be out for awhile."

Shizune nodded with a smile. "Of course. I'll make sure to get your patients reassigned. Good luck."

Sakura waved goodbye to Shizune as she followed Sai back to the Hokage's office.

"So, Sai, is Anbu treating you fine after... y'know... Root was disbanded?" Sakura knew that Anbu always did things questionable things behind closed doors, but Root within the Anbu had been the worst offender. Public opinion of the Anbu had suffered after what Danzo did.

"Yes. Although, I may not be a part of Anbu for much longer. Naruto has recently coined a new rank for me. I am now a chubu. It is a term for those that will be in a newly created Konoha support division. We are admittedly still trying to figure out all the details of what that entails and what sort of talent we will want for that division, but I'm excited to see what we can do."

"Huh, very interesting," Sakura said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Whatever it ends up being, I hope you'll be happy there."

Sai smiled sweetly. "Thank you, Sakura."

A beat of silence passed between them. With every year Sakura new Sai, he gained a little more social grace. She wondered often if he had made friends other than Naruto and her. He never offered that type of personal information out freely. "So, Sai, have you found a girl yet you like?"

"A girl I like?" Sai looked confused at this question. "Well, I like you."

"No! I mean, a girl you have romantic feelings for."

"Oh, no."

Sakura was not going to let him off the hook that easily. "Well, what about Ino? You called her 'beautiful' that one time. That's the only positive nickname I've heard out of you."

"Oh, I only called her beautiful because it seemed to me at the time people did not like to be called nicknames based on truth. So I was experimenting with the opposite to see how people would react."

"Wait... so you're telling me, you actually thought Ino was  _ugly_?"

Sai nodded. "Naturally."

Sakura burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me? That's so funny! I can't wait until I tell her that! She spent years rubbing that in my face!"

Sai smiled. "Tell her if you wish, it doesn't matter to me. So Sakura, I happen to know you have been training frequently with that Rock Lee. Has he been teaching new taijutsu techniques?"

"What, how do you know about that?!" Sakura exclaimed, caught off guard. Had he been spying on them? How often?

Sai giggled at her outburst. "I'm Anbu. Do you really need any other explanation?"

Sakura glared at him before sighing. "I would expect someone like me to be considered a little more trustworthy by Anbu but whatever."

Sai smiled at her, but this time it was insincere. He didn't respond to her comment. "You're ignoring my question," he teased.

"Oh, sorry." Sakura bit her lip. "Well, he did teach me some taijutsu. I used to teach him genjutsu dispelling techniques..."

"Used to?"

A frown tugged at Sakura's lips. She looked to the ground as they walked. "Y-Yeah! We just learned all we wanted to learn from each other, is all. So we called it quits." She then smiled at him.

"Why are you lying?"

Sakura's eyes darted to Sai as he studied her, feeling the heat rise to her face. "W-What?"

"You're lying. Something about your training with Lee upsets you."

"Y-You don't just say things like that, Sai! It makes people uncomfortable!"

"I think that's silly. If something seems to be bothering a friend, I want to know what. And I don't like it when people lie to themselves. You happen to be the worst offender I know, Sakura." Sai smiled sweetly at her.

_"Sai!"_  Anger, embarrassment, and pain swirled inside of her quickly, ready to burst.

"Oh, look at that. We seem to be here," Sai said cheerfully, pointing up at the Hokage building. "You should head in and see what Naruto has for you."

"Saved by our arrival. You have no idea how close I was to punching you across Konoha," Sakura muttered, cheeks still red. "You better watch your mouth around people, Sai."

Sai laughed. "Please, Sakura. I know what I said. I am no longer as naive as I once was." Sai slipped his Anbu mask on. "Be safe, Sakura. And please be honest with yourself, for your own sake," he saluted before darting off.

Sakura gave a halfhearted wave, clenching her jaw. Be honest with herself? What did he mean? Wasn't she already? Sakura shook her head, shoving the thoughts away. It was  _Sai_  who told her that. What did he know of her anyway? The man barely understood human interaction until he was properly introduced to it a few years ago.

Sakura entered the building, giving a nod to the assistant, and headed up the stairs to Naruto's office. When she entered the office she was greeted by a group of people. Naruto sat at his desk with Shikamaru at his side. Kiba and Shino flanked the desk and in between them... Lee. They all stared at her as she entered. The only reaction she noticed was Lee's, whose eyes darkened upon meeting hers.

"Sakura!" Naruto grinned. "You've finally made it!"

"Sorry for being late," Sakura said, stepping forward to stand beside the open spot next to Lee, not looking at him. "Sai slowed me down."

Naruto chuckled knowingly. "I'll have to scold him later for that." Naruto then folded his hands on his desk, his expression hard. "Now that you're all here, we can begin discussing your mission."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter feels a bit meh and not much happens but since it's been so long since I've updated I wrapped it up and decided it was time to post it. Sorry! Hopefully next chapter will be a bit more substantial.
> 
> As a crackship, I always thought LeeHina could totally work. I also think SaiSaku is pretty cute. I liked how Sai could always see through Sakura's act and I tried to show that a bit here.


End file.
